Colorado Football History
was a costly loss for Colorado as Edmundson was injured and
lost for the season while four other players were also hurt.
CU had used only 12 men in that first game, so by its end,
almost half were banged up pretty bad.
19th Centur y
IMPORTANT DATES & MILESTONES
Nov. 15, 1890—First football game ever in the history of the University of
Colorado, losing 20-0 to the Denver Athletic Club in Denver.
Dec. 13, 1890—George Darley runs 65 yards with a fumbled football for a
touchdown, the first in CU history. Colorado Mines won
however, 50-4.
Nov. 26, 1891—First win in CU history, a 24-4 victory on the road over the
Colorado Springs Athletic Association Team.
Nov.
8, 1892—First win by Colorado in Boulder, a 46-0 win over the University
of Denver.
Aug.
3, 1894—Harry Heller named first head coach in Colorado history.
Oct. 26, 1895—Fred Folsom debuts as CU head coach with a 32-0 win over the
Denver Wheel Club in Boulder. He arrived in Boulder earlier that
month and did not coach the first game of the season.
Nov. 17, 1898—Colorado plays first opponent from outside the state boundaries, losing to Nebraska in Boulder, 23-10.
The same year Colorado officially became a state, 1876, the
University of Colorado was founded and opened with 44
students and a faculty of two, one of whom was the president.
Baseball was the first varsity sport at the U. of C. as it was
then called. Football in its earlier form soon followed, though
it was more like soccer when the program was born in the
1880s. But it soon evolved into a more popular form of the
sport, referred to as rugby football, one which offered more
physical contact and much more scoring.
It showed the next Saturday in the program’s first home game
against a veteran Colorado Mines team, considered by many
to be the top team in the west. Pat Carney took over at quarterback, but he was inexperienced, and with CU practicing
more like a soccer team than a rugby team, Mines had its way
and won 103-0. The game was played on a campus field, more
dirt than grass; only five buildings comprised the university
at the time, including two which still stand today, Old Main
and Woodbury.
Game three was scheduled the next Saturday (Nov. 29)
against the Colorado Springs Athletic Association, but was
delayed a week when the train which was to take CU to the
Springs was two hours late, forcing its postponement. The
delay didn’t help CU, as it made it to the game on time the
following Saturday but lost, 44-0.
The final game of that first season was a rematch with
Colorado Mines, again in Boulder. The Blasters (now called
the Orediggers) won this time by a 50-4 margin, but the U. of
C. scored its first touchdown. It was by the defense, however,
as George Darley recovered a Mines fumble and returned it
65 yards for the score. It was still the fifth longest fumble
return and seventh longest miscellaneous return in school
history through the 2007 season.
In the fall of 1890, intercollegiate varsity football was born at
the U. of C., in concert with the sport spreading west as many
programs began that same year. Only 12 schools currently
playing Division I-A football (now the Football Bowl
Subdivision) started their programs before Colorado.
Game One: The Starting Lineup
Here were the 11 starters on the field when CU lined up
across from the Denver Athletic Club team on November
15, 1890:
End
End
Tackle
Tackle
Guard
Guard
Center
Quarterback
Halfback
Halfback
Fullback
Football in 1890 was nothing like today’s game. It used a
rugby-type ball on a 110-yard long field and there were three
downs instead of four. A touchdown was worth four points, a
placement kick after a TD two and a field goal good for five.
The games had two 45-minute halves with a running clock,
just like today’s soccer.
In the early 1890s, only the U. of C., the Colorado School of
Mines and Denver University fielded football programs. The
schedule often included Athletic Clubs, Athletic Associations,
other local clubs and high schools. While playing opponents
from neighboring or distant states was common back east,
Colorado did not play a team from outside the state’s borders
until the ninth year of its existence.
The 1890 team was memorable only for its being the school’s
first. Tom Edmundson was the quarterback and the team
captain, and for all intensive purposes, was the coach as well;
it wouldn’t be until the fifth year of the program a full-time
coach was hired to run the program.
The first game was played in the afternoon on Saturday,
November 15, 1890, in Denver against the Denver Athletic
Club. The DAC scored five touchdowns and won 20-0, but it
Ed Ingram, Boulder
John Nixon, Greeley
George Darley, Alamosa
Delos Holden, Boulder
Howell Givens, Denver
Harry Layton, New York, N.Y.
Charles McConnell, Unknown
Tom Edmundson, Bisbee, Ariz.
Homer James, Estes Park
Wesley Putman, Denver
Bert Kennedy, Denver
So the first season in the books came to an end. Colorado has
never gone winless since, and the 103-point loss to Mines still
stands as the worst loss in program history. Two memories
no one wants now, as well as most likely then.
Colorado was much more competitive in its second season,
but still stood 0-4 and had scored just six points going into
the 1891 finale on the road against the Colorado Springs
Athletic Association, a club team comprised mostly of
Colorado College students. Carney, now seasoned at quarter-
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Colorado’s First Football Team in 1890
The 1899 team: Fred Folsom pictured upper left.
back, played brilliantly according to accounts of the game
and led the way in the school’s first-ever win, returning to
Boulder with a 24-4 victory and a 1-4 record.
(carved out of an area formerly known as “Lover’s Hill” and
later as Panorama Heights). In addition to teaching and
coaching, Heller also instituted policies on team diet, working
with the cooks at the campus dining halls, and encouraged
more students to join the team, expanding the roster for the
first time have a full second unit.
The foundation had been set. Over the next 23 years, the U. of
C. would enjoy 20 winning seasons, including the school’s first
in 1892. Opening with a pair of wins over Denver, either both by
46-0 scores or 26-0 on the road and then 46-0 at home (historical accounts differ), Colorado dropped November games to
Colorado Mines and the Denver Athletic Club to finish the “fall”
season at 2-2. But there would be one more game.
Colorado A&M challenged the state’s flagship university to a
game, and two would meet on February 10, 1893, in Fort
Collins. It was the birth of a rivalry that has seen 79 games
through 2007, but the initial encounter remains one of the
most lopsided in the series, as Colorado poured it on in a 706 win over the Aggies. The game counted on the 1892 record
and officially gave the U. of C. a 3-2 mark.
Prior to the 1893 season, the Colorado Intercollegiate Athletic
Association was formed, as the state’s first conference
included five schools: Colorado, Colorado A&M, Colorado
College Colorado Mines and Denver (it was also referred to as
the Colorado Football Association). The team was still primarily coached by the captains, Edmundson and John Nixon in
1890 and Carney the next three seasons. But with football
becoming more prominent and conference championships
now to be competed for, it was time for Colorado to get serious about the sport and hire a coach. Club sports of today are
much more organized than were CU’s first four football teams.
The first coach in program history was Harry Heller, who
would be paid by donations from the players themselves and
some of the fans. Recommended to the administration by
Harry Gamble, the ’94 captain, Heller did some coaching at
Baker University and in fact was a still a student himself.
Heller would coach just one season, but perhaps as memorable as the team’s 8-1 overall record and a 5-0 mark in conference play for the school’s first title would be what he
accomplished off the field. CU made improvements in facilities, mainly a new home field about a mile north of campus
Heller and Gamble are also credited with keeping football
alive as a sport at CU, as a little-known incident almost
brought an end to the program in its fifth year. In Colorado’s
first game of the 1894 season, a 46-0 win against East Denver
High School, on the last play of the game a CU player suffered
a severe head injury (in a melee, not from scrimmage). He
was unconscious for quite some time but was not seriously
injured. But at a time when stories across the nation detailed
not only serious injury but many deaths in the sport, it
spooked many members of the CU team, including most of
the new second string.
The Monday following the game, only a dozen players
showed up for practice, and Heller and Gamble spent the
next few days tracking down the others and convinced them
to rejoin the team. Colorado regrouped and in the next game,
finally defeated the Denver Athletic Club for the first time in
seven meetings. Though the DAC would exact some revenge
with a 20-6 win in the next to last week of the season, CU
outscored the opponent 198-4 in its five conference games en
route to the championship.
Heller had become quite popular, but he stepped down after
that one season, opting to concentrate on earning his degree.
He remained on as a player, though would participate only
minimally.
So the U. of C. found itself in the same situation, looking for a
leader of a sport rapidly growing in popularity nationwide.
Little did anyone know at the time that the resulting hire
would eventually become known as “the father of CU
football.”
Fred Folsom arrived in Boulder after the 1895 season was
underway, as CU had already easily defeated Denver’s Manual
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TIMEOUT / FRED FOLSOM
Fred Gorham Folsom was a 21-year old pre-law graduate from Dartmouth College, where he was an outstanding
football and baseball player. Considered the finest end to play at Dartmouth to that point, he had led the Big Green
to two straight league championships as a player-coach, a position which was common prior to the 20th century.
CU’s 1895 captain, William Caley, formed a group to find CU’s second coach and quickly zeroed in on Folsom. One
problem, though, was the fact that Folsom was ticketed for the University of Michigan, where he planned on
enrolling in law school. CU assured him that he do both, attend law school and coach the Silver & Gold (one of
CU’s early nicknames, though the football teams of that era actually wore red jerseys and stockings). His love for
the game of football won out and he headed west.
It was one of the first turning points in CU history, as landing Folsom immediately led to the program becoming a
regional power. And Folsom would put permanent roots in Colorado, sans a short time when he returned to coach
his alma mater, as he became a leader in athletic, university, legal, civic and state affairs until his death in 1944.
That same year, Colorado Stadium, which had been built to replace Gamble Field in 1924, was named for him.
Accounts referred to him as being a stern disciplinarian when it came to football, one who could install his
schemes quickly and constantly tweaked them with innovative plays from his creative football mind. Away from
football, one of his trademarks was possessing a keen sense of humor.
Folsom coached CU for 15 seasons (still a school record), and his 77 wins stood as the most in school history for
78 years, until Bill McCartney surpassed the total in his next to last season (1993). He did earn his law degree from
Colorado and eventually taught at the school (earning a chair on CU’s faculty), and had a distinguished career as
a jurist.
High School 36-0 in its opener. His first two games produced
wins over the Denver Wheel Club (32-0) and the University of
Denver (28-0); his first loss was considered slightly controversial, as a 22-10 loss to the Denver Athletic Club came in a
poorly officiated contest by a former DAC fullback and club
member, Frank Spalding. Newspaper stories pointed to most
of the calls going against CU. But the team rebounded to
soundly defeat Colorado College (38-10) and Mines (14-0) to
win a second straight CFA title.
1900s
IMPORTANT DATES & MILESTONES
July 27, 1900—T.W. Mortimer named third head coach in Colorado history, as
Fred Folsom opens a law practice in Denver. Folsom returned as
coach for the 1901 and 1902 seasons.
July 10, 1903—Dave Cropp named fourth head coach in Colorado history.
Oct.
8, 1904—Colorado’s 6-0 win over Nebraska is the school’s first intersectional win in its history.
June 26, 1905—Willis Keinholtz named fifth head coach in Colorado history.
Gamble would again be elected captain for the 1896 season,
his sixth on the team (there were few eligibility rules in his
day). A fan favorite and perhaps the one person who
provided the most continuity in the early years of the
program, when the first football field on campus property
was built and dedicated in 1898, it was named Gamble Field
in his honor.
It was only fitting that the ’96 team was the first to go undefeated in school history, going 5-0 and outscoring all opponents by 171-6.
Folsom’s tenure at Colorado actually covered three stints; the
first was a five year run between 1895 and 1899, in which his
teams went 28-8. He had won three conference titles, and
oversaw the first intersectional game in school history, a 2310 loss to Nebraska in 1898. But he had come west for two
reasons, and after earning his law degree, he wanted to enter
private practice, doing so in Denver. With the new century at
hand, he resigned shortly after the 1899 season, not knowing
at the time he’d return just a year later.
June 19, 1906—Frank Castleman named sixth head coach in Colorado history.
May 11, 1908—Fred Folsom, who returned to Colorado the previous year, once
again named head coach.
T.C. Mortimer coached CU to a 6-4 record in 1900, one of the
losses to the Denver Wheel Club, which was coached by
Folsom, who could not get it out of his blood. Mortimer, who
played at both Simpson College in Iowa and Chicago
University, did have a significant contribution in his one year
in Boulder. He initiated the establishing of letter sweaters,
even though at the time the players had to buy them. The
concession was that they could select the colors of their
choice, and most opted for maroon with a white “C” instead
of using the official school colors, silver and gold.
Mortimer was set to return in 1901, but Folsom found life
practically chained to a desk not for him, and he let CU know
he’d be interested in returning. Mortimer gracefully stepped
aside and Folsom was reunited with many of his former players. His teams went 10-2-1 over the next two seasons, claiming the CFA title both years.
455
In 1903, he was beckoned by his alma mater to return to the
northeast, to serve as Dartmouth’s head coach with an
appointment on the law faculty. He would go 29-5-4 in four
seasons there before returning to Colorado, which would
have three different coaches over the next five years.
Dave Cropp took over and coached CU to an 8-2 mark and the
conference crown his first season, in which he also served as
the school’s first athletic director. His second team went 6-21, with highlights like a 6-0 win over Nebraska, CU’s first intersectional win, and a season-ending 33-0 blowout loss at
Stanford which didn’t sit well with all those associated with
the program. He would move on after just two years.
1910s
IMPORTANT DATES & MILESTONES
Oct.
8, 1910—Colorado’s 11-0 triumph over the Alumni is the 100th win in CU
history.
Spring 1912—The value of a touchdown becomes six points, and the sport now
has most of the modern point values: three for a field goal, two
for a safety and one for an extra point. The two-point conversion
by run or pass won’t appear until 1958.
Oct.
5, 1912—Colorado tops Utah State in Boulder, 16-3, extending CU’s
winning streak to 21 games, the school record to this day.
Colorado A&M ended the streak the following week with a 21-0
win in Fort Collins.
Jan. 10, 1916—Bob Evans named seventh head coach in Colorado history.
Next up to lead the Silver and Gold was Willis Kleinholz, a
University of Minnesota man who led CU to an 8-1 record in
1905. But the school had several disputes with the conference (mostly concerning loose academic requirements) and
left the organization, reworking the schedule to include two
high schools, the alumni and six regional teams. Nebraska
avenged its loss to Colorado, but CU picked up wins against
Wyoming, Kansas, Utah, Washburn and Haskell, using the
opportunity to branch out a bit.
Kleinholz departed after just one season, and in came Frank
Castleman, who would take over the duties of coaching both
the football and basketball teams. The game drastically
changed in 1906, as offensive rule changes required a lot of
adjustments, which affected many teams. Forward passing
was legalized to open up the offense, and while teams still
had three downs to earn a first down, the requirement now
called for the offense to make 10 yards on those three tries
instead of just five. CU did iron out its differences with the
CFA and rejoined the conference, but mustered just a 2-3-4
record that year, with all four ties of the scoreless variety.
Castleman’s last CU team went 5-3 in 1907, as he was aided by
a familiar face as an assistant coach—Folsom. He returned as
a member of the law faculty at the school, this time staying
on permanent until retiring in 1942. The conference title came
down to the last game of the season, but Colorado lost to
Mines by the odd score of 5-4.
With Folsom back on board, Castleman stepped aside from
his football duties, remaining on as coach of the basketball,
baseball and track teams in addition to serving as athletic
director. Folsom signed a contract, valued at $1,000, for a
dual coaching position for the teams at the university and the
State Prep School (now Boulder High School). That was big
money back then.
Folsom coached the next eight seasons, earning five conference titles as CU moved into the Colorado Faculty Athletic
Conference for the 1909 season, with the league expanding
geographically the following year, becoming the Rocky
Mountain Athletic Conference, of which it would remain a
member through 1937.
Jan. 17, 1918—Joe Mills named eighth head coach in Colorado history.
Folsom’s 1909, 1910 and 1911 teams all went 6-0, and a 21game winning streak from the last game of 1908 through the
first two of 1912 still stands as the all-time school record. The
1909 squad was not scored on; and all three did not allow a
single touchdown; Wyoming scored a field goal for the only
points against CU in ’10 and CU allowed a field goal and a
safety in ’11. In the 21-game streak, CU allowed just 11 points.
Rival Colorado A&M ended the winning streak, and the 1912
team finished 6-3 including a season-ending win over
Oklahoma. But it did no better than tying for third in the
RMAC to end a run of four straight championship years.
The 1913 team posted a 5-1-1 record and earned Folsom his
last title, his ninth in 13 seasons, and the 1914 Silver and
Gold’s only loss in a 5-1 campaign came at the hands of Mines,
which used a 6-2 win to steal the crown from CU. Folsom was
now 40 years old and those close to him could tell he was a
bit worn down physically by his long playing and coaching
careers in addition to all his responsibilities outside of
football.
Assorted illnesses sidelined Folsom for much of the 1915
campaign, one in which CU would finish 1-6 with all going on
his record despite his coaching in less than half the games. At
the end of the season, he announced his retirement, thus
ending CU’s first real golden period in the sport as many at
the time referred. He went on to teach law, serve as acting
dean of the college of law, and always remained active in
athletics. He chaired the drive for a new football stadium on
campus and drafted the financial plan which enabled the
school to build it; he had worked closely with CU president
George Norlin to accomplish the project, as Colorado
Stadium opened in 1924 (it was also called Norlin Field at
times).
The RMAC had many more teams than the old CFA, so
winning a title had become a bit harder with more
contenders. Bob Evans was named head coach, and the 1916
team, now having to deal with many young men in the service preparing to fight in World War I, did little better than the
year before with a 1-5-1 record. Evans did a masterful job in
1917 though, as Colorado went 6-2; in fact, he did such a good
job that he moved west to become Stanford’s head coach.
456
Joe Mills, who had been hired as basketball coach, took over
in football as well in 1918, when the war really hit home. CU’s
quarterback in 1915-16, Eddie Evans, was killed in France and
it cast a pall over the program. Mills coached football just two
seasons, his teams going 2-3 and 2-3-1, as he stepped down
after 1919 to concentrate on his basketball duties.
The first 30 seasons of Colorado football were now in the
books, with Folsom coaching 15 of those teams. But seven
men coached a collective 11 of those other squads, not
including team captains that had managed the first four. The
program was in need of some stability, and with the help of
Folsom who was now the chairman of the athletic board, it
would find its man for the next decade and more.
1920s
IMPORTANT DATES & MILESTONES
Feb. 4, 1920—Myron Witham named ninth head coach in Colorado history.
Nov. 28, 1923—Colorado’s 6-3 win at Colorado State gives Colorado a 9-0-0
mark for the 1923 season, its best ever at the time.
Oct. 11, 1924—Colorado defeated Regis College 39-0 in the first game at Folsom
Field (then known as Colorado Stadium).
Dec. 25, 1924—The Silver & Gold play the first postseason game in school
history, defeating the Hawaii-Navy All-Stars in Honolulu, 43-0.
Oct. 13, 1928—Bill Smith records the first known 100-yard rushing game ever
by a CU player, running for 132 yards and a touchdown in a 216 win at Northern Colorado.
With World War I over and colleges again stocked with young
men, football took that next step in the 1920s. The emergence
of the National Football League by the end of the decade
would eventually lead the sport to become the nation’s most
popular a few decades later. But closer to home in Boulder,
CU was looking to make that next great hire to return its football program to the stability and success it had enjoyed
under Fred Folsom.
There was no one more qualified than Folsom to find CU’s
next coach, and he turned to a former player of his when he
coached at Dartmouth. Myron Witham, like Folsom his
mentor, was quiet, intelligent and intense. Those attributes
were effective for Folsom, and they would be for Witham,
despite the fact his hiring turned a few heads. He was an AllAmerican performer for Folsom at Dartmouth his senior
season in 1904, and was an assistant coach for him the following year before taking over as head coach for a single season
at Purdue in 1906. He then went to work in engineering, so
when the call came to lead the CU program, he had been out
of coaching for 13 years. But Folsom had his man, and any
reservations about his abilities would fade quickly.
History paints a very good picture of Witham. In addition to
coaching 96 games, a figure that still ranks fifth most all-time
through 2007, Witham’s 63-26-7 record remains third best for
those who coached a minimum three years at the school. But
he would make many marks off the field as well.
Witham’s first Colorado unit was talented, with junior center
Walt Franklin the nucleus of the team. The Silver and Gold
A Hatfield Chilson pass completion in the 1924 season.
had an impressive season, rolling up a 4-1-2 record and tied
for third in the conference. The lone loss was a 7-0 setback to
Utah in Boulder, setting the only negative tone for what would
be 12 years at the helm of the CU team for Witham.
After his first season, Witham moved to organize support in
several areas. He established the first training table at CU for
the varsity players, though the players were themselves
responsible for serving and cleaning up. He formed a campus
booster club of five dozen underclassmen that helped in
areas as high school relations (eventually morphed into
today’s recruiting), scholarship (academics and tutoring),
publicity and ways and means (or anything the first three
didn’t cover). He would also see it that all CU home games
were filmed.
In scheduling CU’s biggest intersectional game ever, the 1921
opener at the University of Chicago, he installed the first
preseason training camp for the team. The booster club
raised the funds to cover expenses at a facility near Eldora, a
mountain community about 25 miles west of Boulder. The
team practiced and held meetings there for two weeks before
transitioning onto campus. Upon their arrival, they moved
into CU’s first “athletic dorm,” again with the help of the
booster club. Raising $10,500, a 14-room house at 1016 14th
Street featured eating, sleeping and study facilities for 30
players.
CU lost that game at Chicago, falling to legendary head coach
Amos Alonzo Stagg’s team 35-0. A special train brought 300
fans and the school band to the game, easily the longest such
457
trek coordinated by the school at the time (trips by train to
Denver and Colorado Springs had been the occasional norm
up to that point). Colorado rebounded from the defeat, did
not lose again and improved to second place in the conference, finishing the ’21 season with a 4-1-1 mark.
It was in this decade that CU’s first true out-of-state rivalry
came to bloom, as Utah emerged as the perennial conference
favorite between 1922 and 1933, claiming eight RMAC titles in
that span. The Salt Lake City school would become the nemesis for Witham and his Silver and Gold squads, as CU would
go just 2-9-1 against their rivals to the west during his tenure.
Three of those losses and the tie cost Colorado four titles,
though Witham’s 1923 and 1924 teams did win back-to-back
conference crowns.
CU’s 1922 team was 4-4 overall and generally had a mediocre
season, opening with two wins but then dropped four of its
next five, starting with a 3-0 loss to… Utah. But good news
was just around the corner, especially with an outstanding
freshman team that regularly gave the varsity fits, often
outplaying them in practice.
The season of 1923 produced one of the most dominant
teams in school history, though the roster included more
sophomores than from any other class. Quarterback and
team captain Art Quinlan was one of the few returning veterans the single-wing offense was built around, along with fullback Earl Loser, tackle Don McLean and halfback Fred
Hartshorn. Several underclassmen emerged as key players,
including guard Bill McGlone, ends Dick Handy and Jack
Healy, fullback Bill Bohn and quarterback Hatfield Chilson.
In compiling a 9-0 record, CU outscored its opponents by a
combined 280-27, with four wins of 41 points or greater (all
shutouts). In the first 100 years of Colorado football (18901989), only the 1971 (10-2) and 1989 (11-1) teams won more
games, with only three others attaining nine wins.
Colorado rolled over its first three opponents, BYU, Western
State and Colorado Teachers College (now Northern
Colorado) by a combined 152-0. Game four was a rematch
with Denver, which had won 16-0 the previous year, and it was
the first solid test of the ’23 campaign. The first three opponents did not have great teams, and CU fans wanted to know
if their team was for real. The week leading up to the game
was filled with miserable weather, with rain and/or snow
falling on a daily basis.
After a scoreless first quarter, CU came to life behind Quinlan,
who passed for 206 yards in leading CU to what was termed a
“statistical slaughter.” Colorado held advantages of 356-41 in
total offense and 23-3 in first downs and returned to Boulder
with a solid 21-7 win that made CU and Witham the “toast of
the Rockies.”
The following week, CU toppled Colorado College 17-7 behind
the crisp passing of Quinlan (13-of-16, 162 yards). Colorado
improved to 5-0, but was faced with the last four games all on
the road, the second and last time that happened in school
history. CU started the run with a 47-0 win at Colorado Mines,
but lost Quinlan’s quarterbacking services for the season
with a broken right hand; he would handle placekicking and a
few returns. In his place came Chilson, who would make his
first career start the following week… at Utah.
Chilson was a 5-8, 130-pound sophomore from Pueblo, and
had little game experience at quarterback. Despite his small
stature, he had great ability to slip through the smallest of
holes and had developed a vertical leap in which he would
jump over onrushing defenders. Chilson called a perfect
game and directed the Silver and Gold to a 17-7 win over the
Red Devils. The following week, CU scored an easy 20-3 win at
Wyoming, with reserves playing most of the game against the
winless Cowboys.
Only the rival Aggies from Fort Collins stood in-between CU
and a perfect season. A&M led 3-0 in the second half before
Quinlan tied it with a field goal. He then returned a punt 63
yards to the Aggie 25-yard line with time running down, and
CU worked the ball to the 3-yard line with under a minute to
play. Witham called for a field goal on third down, and it
turned out to save the undefeated season; the Aggies blocked
the kick, but Quinlan himself recovered the ball and gave his
team another chance to win fourth down. This time he split
he uprights and Colorado had perfection.
While 1924 yielded another fine record (8-1-1), its best remembered for two significant firsts in program history. After the
perfect ’23 campaign, a movement quickly began for the team
to have a stadium for its home as opposed to Gamble Field,
which had served the team well since 1898. But with the
program growing in stature and stadiums being built around
the country, it was only logical that CU take that next step.
An attendance record of 42,480 was set in 1923 for the four
home games, which was over five times the capacity of the
field’s bleacher seating. So with the need so obvious for new
digs, it was easy to reach a unanimous agreement and the
plan took off quickly.
Whitney Huntington, a professor in engineering, surveyed
campus lands and came up with a location on the northeast
end, a ravine near the site of the new men’s gymnasium and
home to the basketball team. There was good drainage and
the land provided the opportunity for deep bleacher seating
on both sides of the field, which would provide for a new
stadium to be built both quickly and economically.
Folsom was now a full-time professor in CU’s Law School and
the chairman of the athletic board, which approved
Huntington’s location. President George Norlin asked
Folsom to develop a financing plan, and in eight short months
at a cost of $70,000, Colorado Stadium was completed and
was state-of-the-art for its time.
The playing field wasn’t quite ready for the first game, but
that turned out to be okay as everyone associated with the
program said goodbye to Gamble Field with a 31-0 win over
Western State. A week later, on Oct. 11, 1924, the stadium was
christened against Regis with Colorado easily rolling to a 390 win. The structure was officially dedicated Nov. 1, with a 3-
458
0 homecoming win over Utah. Loser’s 35-yard field goal was
the only scoring in the game.
CU seemed to be in a bit of a slump, but came back in the next
game against Colorado Mines to post a 38-0 win, the 16th in a
row for the Silver and Gold. But that’s where the run ended,
as six lost fumbles, all in Denver territory, proved costly in a
0-0 tie with the Pioneers. Colorado was now 4-0-1 in conference play and hosted Colorado A&M (4-1) in the regular
season finale, with the winner to claim sole rights to the
RMAC title. It wasn’t even close, as Loser scored 24 points in
a variety of ways to lead CU to an easy 36-0 win.
team would go 5-1-1, which included another close win over
A&M (6-0) and a scoreless tie with Denver. The loss was a
crushing 40-0 mauling at Utah, perhaps fitting in history as it
was CU’s last game before the stock market crash in late
October of ’29. One bright spot was the brilliant play of sophomore tackle Paul Sawyer, who would be selected to CU’s
honorable mention All-Century team decades later. A seasonending 27-7 romp at Denver on Thanksgiving Day did nothing
to quell the fan’s thirst for Witham’s head.
1930s
IMPORTANT DATES & MILESTONES
Colorado’s season turned out not to be over; an unexpected
addition of two postseason games in “paradise” were added
when several enthusiastic fans in Hawai’i raised the funds
necessary to send an 18-man squad plus coaches to the
islands for Christmas and New Year’s. It marked the first postseason play in school history, and was a well-deserved
reward for Witham’s men, who had a 17-0-1 record over the
’23 and ’24 seasons.
The group left December 19, practiced a few days and
handled the Hawai’i-Navy All-Stars with ease, 43-0. CU had
won over several fans on Oahu and was dubbed the
“Mountaineers” by a local sportswriter. But Colorado may
have basked too long in the glory of the big win, not to
mention the tropical sun, as an unheralded Hawai’i University
team defeated the Silver and Gold on New Year’s Day, 13-0. It
was CU’s first loss since late in the ’22 season.
The 1925 team went 6-3, though opened with an embarrassing 3-0 loss to Chadron State, a small school in the Nebraska
panhandle. CU tried a new offense, basically an early version
of the “T-formation” and it proved disastrous. Witham
returned to the single wing the following week for the remainder of the year and won six of eight games, the losses coming
to CU’s two main rivals, Utah and Colorado State.
That was the theme the next two years, both losing seasons
with setbacks to both rivals, including two of the worst losses
in Witham’s tenure, a 37-3 homecoming loss at home to Utah
in 1926 and a 39-7 loss at Colorado State in ’27. The latter
came after a 4-2 start to the season and was sandwiched in
the middle of the two of the Witham’s three biggest margins
of defeat, a 46-7 clubbing at Southern California and a 48-0
loss Thanksgiving Day in Denver. Fans were getting restless,
after all this was just three years removed from the two most
glorious seasons in school history.
Amid the descent, in 1927 the university hired its first fulltime director of athletics, Harry Carlson, a quiet, reserved
yet wise leader who would lead the CU program for the next
38 years. His persona was one that could deliver a cool, calming influence, and he did just that after the tumultuous events
that ended the ’27 football season.
The ’28 team avenged the losses to the Aggies and Pioneers,
being on the good side of hard fought 13-7 and 7-0 wins,
respectively. The record was 5-1, but the one defeat was again
at the hands of Utah, and by a decisive 25-6 margin. The 1929
Dec. 14, 1930—George Carlson becomes CU’s first player to be awarded the
Rhodes Scholarship.
Nov. 21, 1931—Colorado’s 17-7 verdict over Colorado College is the 200th win in
CU history.
Jan. 3, 1932—William “Navy Bill” Saunders named the 10th head coach in
Colorado history.
Dec. 17, 1933—Clayton White, older becomes CU’s second player to receive a
Rhodes Scholarship.
Nov. 10,1934—Colorado officially adopts the nickname “Buffaloes” at annual
Homecoming game. The “Buffs” beat Utah 7-6.
Feb. 7, 1935—Bernard “Bunnie” Oakes named the 11th head coach in Colorado
history.
Nov. 7, 1936—Byron “Whizzer” White scores 25 points against Utah in Boulder as
CU wins, 31-7. White scored four touchdowns and kicked one extra
point to establish a Buff record.
Nov. 6, 1937—Byron White single-handedly beats Utah at Salt Lake City, 17-7,
in one of his greatest games ever. He returned a punt 95 yards,
scored another touchdown on a 57-yard sprint, kicked a 15-yard
field goal and kicked both extra points in accounting for all of
CU’s points.
Nov. 25, 1937—Byron White’s jersey number “24” retired at the traditional
Thanksgiving Day game with Denver. Buffs won, 34-7.
Dec. 12, 1937—The Pittsburgh Steelers select Byron White as the fourth pick in
the first round of the NFL Draft, making White the first CU player
to be drafted into the league.
Dec. 13, 1937—Byron White named to the All-America team, becoming the first
Colorado player to gain the honor.
Dec. 18, 1937—Byron White becomes the third Colorado player to receive a
Rhodes Scholarship. He will study at Oxford in 1939.
Jan. 1, 1938—Colorado makes its first Bowl game appearance ever, losing to
No. 18 Rice, 28-14, in the Cotton Bowl.
The 1930 season opened with a bang, as Colorado went on
the road and upset Big Six school Missouri, 9-0. CU then traveled in the other direction a week later and battled Utah State
to a scoreless tie, but would then reel off four straight wins to
enter a Nov. 15 matchup with Utah that would decide the
RMAC title. However, the result was the same, with Utah
using a 34-0 whipping to claim its sixth straight league crown.
As for Colorado, the Silver and Gold had gone 16-3-2 the last
three seasons, 16-0-2 against all others, but 0-3 versus Utah.
The sole measuring stick of CU’s success had been reduced
to what its outcome was against its rivals to the west, and
Colorado was on the short end of the score six straight year,
the last three by a combined 99-6 count. Yet Witham
survived, but not for long.
459
After the season, the first major national honor was bestowed
on the program, when end George Carlson was awarded the
prestigious Rhodes Scholarship.
Colorado won three of its first five games in 1931, a rollercoaster ride that featured another upset of Missouri, this
time 9-7 in Boulder, and a 25-6 throttling of DU, but included
a loss at Colorado A&M. Up next was Utah, and Witham’s job
was likely riding on the result. A 32-0 loss, a third straight
shutout by the Utes in the series, sealed his fate, despite two
closing wins over Colorado College and Arizona. In January
(’32), the school’s Board of Regents opted not to renew his
contract.
Paraphrasing what was written at the time, “winning seasons
do not necessarily create longevity, they simply raise the
standards.” Witham’s 63-26-7 record couldn’t overcome the
old coach’s desire to not be overly engaged in recruiting,
which was becoming more and more a key part of the job,
and his record against Utah was the fatal blow.
Carlson was faced with hiring his first football coach, and one
of the top requirements included the person being a good
recruiter. It was in the late 1920s when coaches started to
woo young men to pick their school over others, and a good
personality was often the difference. He didn’t have to look
far to find his man, the popular William “Navy Bill”
Saunders, who spent six years as line coach at Colorado A&M
before taking over as head coach at Colorado Teachers in
1928. Carlson was impressed with how his Greeley teams,
despite being winless in three tries against CU, always played
tough and from start to finish.
Saunders’ first team went 2-4, typical of a transition year
where the upperclassmen weren’t overly thrilled with the
dismissal of their head coach. While the team had some good
players, including backs Al Oviatt, George Grosvenor and
Jim Counter along with end Clayton White, and CU won its
first two games, a 7-6 home loss to Colorado A&M triggered
four straight losses to end the season. It was followed by
another shutout defeat (14-0) at Utah, the first of three
straight games CU would record goose eggs on the scoreboard as CC and DU also whitewashed the Silver and Gold.
The 1933 team sprinted to a 5-1 start, including a 6-0 upset
victory at Oklahoma State. A small sophomore rookie from
Glenrock, Wyo., William “Kayo” Lam was making a name for
himself in the backfield, and CU started to understand the
schemes Saunders had installed. Things were looking up for
the annual battle with Utah, but alas, while playing the Utes
tough for the first time in several years, the result was the
same. Colorado finally scored in losing 13-6, and though
having advantages in offense (288-200) and first downs (16-9),
three fumbled punts in the first half led to all of Utah’s points.
Wins over Colorado Teachers and Denver closed a very
successful 7-2 season, as observers felt CU had turned the
corner.
Off the field, good news included White being named a
Rhodes Scholar and that the final payment of $2,491.75 was
made on the stadium, completing paying off all obligations in
less than 10 years. The bad news was that the season ticket
price in ’33 was raised to $5.50 for the five-game schedule,
and during the depression years, few had that kind of money
for luxuries like sporting events.
TIME OUT / THE “BUFFALOES” ARE BORN
Prior to 1934, CU athletic teams usually were referred to as the “Silver and Gold,” but other nicknames teams were sometimes called included Silver Helmets, Yellow Jackets, Hornets, Arapahoes, Big Horns, Grizzlies and Frontiersmen. During
the summer of 1934, Colorado’s 45th season of intercollegiate athletic competition, the Silver & Gold, the student newspaper at the time, decided to sponsor a national contest to select a permanent nickname and mascot. A $5 prize would
go to the author of the winning selection; remember, this was during the Great Depression, and five dollars was a good
amount of money to most people. Over 1,000 entries arrived from almost every state in the union. Athletic Director
Harry Carlson, graduate manager Walter Franklin and Kenneth Bundy from the newspaper were the judges.
Local articles first reported that Claude Bates of New Madrid, Mo., and James Proffitt of Cincinnati, Ohio, were cowinners for the prize as both submitted “Buffaloes” as their entry. But 10 days later, the newspaper declared Boulder
resident Andrew Dickson the winner, after a follow-up revealed his submission of “Buffaloes” had actually arrived several
days before those of originally deemed to be the winners. Through the years, synonyms which quickly came into use
included “Bisons,” “Buffs,” “Thundering Herd,” “Stampeding Herd,” “Golden Avalanche,” and “Golden Buffaloes.”
The live buffalo mascot also first appeared in 1934, three weeks after the contest that declared Buffaloes the new nickname.
For the final game of the season, a group of students paid $25 to rent a buffalo calf along with a real cowboy as his keeper.
The calf was the son of Killer, a famed bison at Trails End Ranch in Fort Collins. It took the cowboy and four students to
keep the calf under control on the sidelines during the 7-0 win at the University of Denver on Thanksgiving Day.
Live buffaloes would make appearances at CU games on and off over the next 30 years, usually in a pen on the field or
sometimes driven around in a cage. In the 1940s, the school kept a baby buffalo in a special pen at the now-defunct
University Riding Academy. The first named buffalo was “Mr. Chips,” who appeared for the first time at the 1957 CU Days
kickoff rally, as supporter Mahlon White donated him to the school, and it was cared for by a men’s honorary. Mr. Chips
wasn’t around for all that long, and several years would pass before one of college football’s most entertaining and
thrilling traditions would be born.
460
CU had opened the year with scoreless ties against Kansas
and Missouri, and dropped to 0-1-2 with a 13-7 loss to CTC in
Greeley. The latter was the first night game in Colorado
history, and accounts of the game mentioned that the
Teacher’s team had a few tricks up their sleeve, one of which
was wearing “dark gold uniforms that perfectly blended with
the ball.”
The new nickname, “Buffaloes,” was officially bestowed on
the entire athletic program at a ceremony during
Homecoming on Nov. 10, when CU hosted Utah, with the
newly named CU team searching for its first win since 1924
over its arch-rivals. The football Gods smiled on Colorado
that day, as the “Buffs” made an early 7-0 lead stand up for a
7-6 win, with the Utes missing a point-blank field goal try at
the end of the game to preserve the CU victory.
Colorado went on to win its final six games of the season to
finish 6-1-2, and tied Teacher’s for the league title as both had
6-1 marks. But CTC owned the head-to-head win to lay more
claim to the crown.
Soon after the end of the season, Saunders abruptly resigned
as head coach. He decided to return to his native Mississippi
where his family had numerous land holdings and a management position for him. That’s what it appeared publicly;
privately, rumors had it he had asked the CU administration
for more support, and when none was forthcoming, he pulled
up stakes. He returned to coaching just two years after leaving CU, and would do so with bitter rival Denver.
Once again, CU was in the market for a new football coach.
Carlson had success staying in the region for his last hire, so
he went to the well again. Now entrenched in his ninth year
as athletic director, he had a knack for finding good coaches.
Despite staying just one year before moving on to Oklahoma
State where he would become a legend, Carlson had hired
Hank Iba as CU’s basketball coach for the 1933-34 season; his
next basketball hire, Forrest “Frosty” Cox, who was also an
assistant football coach, would make Colorado a western
basketball power over his 13 seasons in Boulder. In short,
Carlson could spot coaching talent.
In Oakes’ first season at Colorado, he inherited one of the
most talented backfields in school history, with the senior
Lam and a sophomore by the name of Byron White. In the ’35
opener, CU dominated an Oklahoma team in Norman though
losing, 3-0. The Buffs had a chance to win late, taking over at
midfield in the final minutes with White and Lam leading the
charge down to the 7-yard line, but the Sooner defense
stopped CU cold to hang on.
Colorado went on to win the RMAC title with a 5-1 record,
suffering three losses to future conference foes (OU, Missouri
and Kansas). White was lost for the season with a knee injury
early in league play, but Lam rushed for a then-national
record 1,043 yards, had over 2,000 all-purpose yards and was
the first Buffalo player ever chosen to play in a postseason
All-Star game, earning an invitation to the East-West Shrine
game in San Francisco.
The 1936 season served as an appetizer for what lay ahead; a
modest 4-3 overall record included another tough opening
loss to Oklahoma (8-0 in Boulder), but also featured a third
straight win over Utah. White, who this season was nicknamed “Whizzer” by Denver Post sportswriter Leonard Cahn,
accounted for every single point in a 31-7 win over the Utes.
CU was 4-0 in league play at that point and appeared headed
for another title, but two one-point road defeats derailed the
bid: a 14-13 setback at Utah State, the eventual league champ,
and then a 7-6 Thanksgiving Day defeat to former CU coach
Saunders and DU before a state record crowd of 27,700.
The 1937 season would be Colorado’s last in the Rocky
Mountain Athletic Conference. A gap between the larger and
smaller institutions had been widening for some time, from
the caliber of play and squad size to home attendance. The
RMAC also had grown to 12 schools over the year, and scheduling was way off balance.
The seven biggest schools officially formed the Mountain
States Conference, though it was also referred to at times as
the Skyline League and even the Big Seven. BYU, CU,
Colorado A&M, Denver, Utah, Utah State and Wyoming made
the break and would begin league play in 1938; the other five
remained in the RMAC which still thrives to this day in the
NCAA’s Division II.
Enter Bernard “Bunny” Oakes, who had been head coach at
Montana University for the four previous years after serving
a pair of two-year stints as an assistant at Tennessee and
Nebraska. An Illinois graduate, he played his college ball with
Red Grange under Bob Zuppke, one of the most innovative
coaches of his day.
The “fourth” time proved to be the charm to open the ’37
season; from 1934-36, CU opened against a Big Six Conference
opponent and was winless with two losses and a tie. This
time around, Missouri visited Boulder and the tone was set
for the entire year with a 14-6 win over Don Faurot’s charges.
Oakes had the pedigree and flawless credentials, and while
he led CU to new heights during his five-year tenure, his
approach to coaching, deemed fanatical by many, would be
the reason for his eventual demise. He had a one track mind
and was totally dedicated to driving his teams to their limit.
But that wore thin on his players, and following his third year
in Boulder, the players reached the point where the price
paid wasn’t worth the results. He was fired after five seasons
and a 25-15-1 record and four winning seasons, thought it
included one that put the Buffaloes on the national map.
The Buffs would not allow a point the next four games, as CU
steamrolled Utah State (33-0), Brigham Young (14-0),
Colorado A&M (47-0) and Colorado Mines (54-0). Along the
way, White was rolling up impressive numbers and garnering
national attention, though the Buffaloes were hardly a oneman show. Fullback Erv Cheney and halfback Orville “O.T.”
Nuttall were dangerous runners in their own right, and when
White dropped back to pass, ends Leon Lavington and Lex
Quarnberg were popular targets. And it was said that center
Gene Moore could play for any team in the country.
461
TIMEOUT / BYRON WHITE
Byron Raymond “Whizzer” White first made a name for himself while playing for the University of Colorado’s undefeated 1937 football team.
The first All-American at Colorado in football and the second in any sport, he led the nation in rushing that season
with a record-breaking total of 1,121 yards (in eight games) and amassed 122 points. Those marks were erased only
after colleges went to 10- and 11-game schedules. He was known as a “60-minute performer,” excelling on defense
as well as offense.
White led that 1937 team to Colorado’s first-ever bowl appearance, facing Rice in the ’38 Cotton Bowl on New Year’s
Day in Dallas. Though Rice won, 28-14, “Whizzer” left them talking. He threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Joe
Antonio and then returned an interception 47 yards for a touchdown to put Colorado up 14-0 in the first quarter
before the Owls battled back. He rushed 23 times for 54 yards in the game, and had 166 all-purpose yards including returns.
Denver sports writer, Leonard Kahn, gave White’s nickname to him. Kahn labeled White with this name because
“he seemed to whiz by people.”
White was also a .400 hitter on the baseball team, and a standout on CU’s basketball squad that made the N.I.T. in 1938.
His off the field performances were just as impressive as the ones on it. In 186 hours of undergraduate work, White
earned 180 hours of A, and 6 hours of B. He was the student body president, a Rhodes Scholar, and Phi Beta Kappa.
After his time at Colorado, the Wellington native went on to play professional football for the Pittsburgh Pirates
(now known as the Steelers). White was Pittsburgh’s first pick in the 1938 draft, and would lead the league in rushing with 567 yards that year and was named All-Pro. White left professional football to attend post-graduate school
at Oxford College in England. After Oxford, White played one more season of football with Detroit, and again led
the league in rushing with 514 yards and was again All-Pro. In the off-season, White attended Yale Law School.
During World War II, White was an officer in naval intelligence, serving most of his duty in the South Pacific. During
his time of service, White earned a Bronze Star, and formed a friendship with John F. Kennedy.
Following the war, White returned to Yale Law School where he graduated first in his class in 1946. After a successful career as a corporation lawyer, White entered the political sphere in 1960, heading a pre-convention Kennedy
movement that helped the soon-to-be president win the state of Colorado. White later served as deputy attorney
general under Kennedy.
On March 30, 1962, White was appointed an associated justice of the U.S. Supreme Court at age 44. He served for
31 years, and retired in March, 1993.
The honorable Byron R. White was the first athlete inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall-Of-Fame in 1965. He was
also inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame, the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame, the GTE
Academic Hall of Fame, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Hall of Fame, and was the inaugural inductee into
CU’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998. He was selected to CU’s All-Century Team in 1989, marking the school’s first 100
years of football, and his football number, 24, was the first retired by the university.
White left an indelible mark on the field and in the classroom at the University of Colorado. Born June 8, 1917 in
Fort Collins, Colo., he died from complications of pneumonia in Denver at the age of 84 on April 15, 2002.
Next loomed the annual test with Utah, the first of two
November contests that would determine the league champion. White scored all of CU’s points in a 17-7 win on the road
as the Buffs won their sixth in a row. The following week, CU
trailed Colorado College 6-0 at halftime in the home finale,
but Whizzer scored three times in the first 10 minutes of the
second half and the Buffs cruised to a 35-6 win.
White was named to every All-America team, becoming the
school’s first in football to earn the distinction and just the
third CU athlete bestowed the honor in any sport (his good
friends Gil Cruter and Claude Walton were track AllAmericans in 1936). He also earned one of two regional
Rhodes scholarships the same month, the third CU football
player in less than 10 years to do so.
The final RMAC game of the season was set for Thanksgiving
Day in Denver, pitting CU against DU, with the Buffs 6-0 in
league play with the Pioneers 5-1. While CU was guaranteed a
share of the title, it wanted it outright, and behind several
long plays from White, the Buffs earned it with a 34-7 win.
As for the team, and largely thanks to America’s captivation
with White, the Buffaloes were invited to their first bowl
game. CU lined up across from No. 18 Rice, its first ever game
against a nationally ranked opponent, in the Cotton Bowl on
New Year’s Day in Dallas. Oakes would put his team through
two practices a day in Dallas, often in heavy rains. The prac-
462
tice gear never had a chance to dry between sessions and the
players became disillusioned with the experience.
over DU in Boulder, Thanksgiving Day also brought what
would be CU’s only real legitimate Mountain States title.
Still, behind White, CU stormed to a 14-0 lead, but the Owls
rallied behind their star, Ernie Lain, for a 28-14 win. To
outsiders, the season was still a huge success, but inside the
program, seeds of discontent had been planted. The train
ride back to Boulder was no fun.
Oakes final team posted a 5-3 record, and though he had
three years remaining on a five-year contract he signed
following the ’37 season. Many thought the strong finish
would save him, but the players delivered a 13-page
complaint and petition for Oakes’ removal to the Regents at
the board’s February meeting. Thirty-five of the 40 players
signed it, and as the month neared its end, he was fired and
received a severance check believed to be $10,000.
With the ’37 team laden with seniors, CU’s first season in the
new conference was a rebuilding project. The Buffs opened 03, including non-league losses to Missouri and George
Washington, but after three wins and a tie the over the next
month, a winning year could be salvaged with a Thanksgiving
win over Denver. But the Pioneers ended that hope with a 1912 win.
Two key players, Nuttall and Marty Brill, quit prior to the
1939 season, and a third, Lou Liley, soon joined them. They
did not want to play for Oakes. After a second straight 0-3
start, and aware of the players’ displeasure and the coaches
demeanor, the CU athletic committee recommended he be
fired immediately. Oakes was only saved by the Board of
Regents, which basically gave him an unenthusiastic vote of
confidence.
Sophomores dominated the ’39 roster, and they pulled it
together to win the last five games of the year. Players like
Paul McClung, Leo Stasica and Ray Jenkins put feelings
aside and played for the school, and thanks to a 27-17 win
1940s
IMPORTANT DATES & MILESTONES
June 11, 1940— Cross Country & Track Coach Frank Potts named the 12th head
coach in Colorado history.
Mar. 3, 1941—Jim Yeager named the 13th head coach in Colorado history.
Mar. 11, 1944—Frank Potts takes over once again as head coach while Jim
Yeager is serving his country in World War II.
Jan. 10, 1945—Jim Yeager returns to coach Buffs.
Nov. 27, 1947—A 26-20 loss at Denver is significant in several ways: it was CU’s
final game in the Mountain States Conference; it was the last
game in CU-Denver series; it was CU’s last on Thanksgiving Day;
and it was the first game in 58 seasons of Colorado football
where both teams scored at least 20 points.
Feb. 3, 1948—Dallas Ward named the 14th head coach in Colorado history, as it
is athletic director Harry Carlson’s most important hire as Ward will
lead CU into the tough Big Seven Conference.
Oct.
2, 1948—Colorado’s first game as a member of the Big Seven. The Buffs
lost 40-7 at Kansas.
Oct.
9, 1948—Buffs’ dramatic 19-6 upset of Nebraska in Boulder was Dallas
Ward’s first win as coach, and Colorado’s first win in the Big
Seven.
Track coach Frank Potts took over coaching the gridders, as
the payment to Oakes depleted the salary budget for the 1940
staff. Potts had been a football assistant since he arrived at
CU in 1927, was popular among the players, and knew the
system. It would give Carlson time to search for a successor
if Potts didn’t take on the role permanently.
The ’40 Buffaloes logged a 5-3-1 record, tying for second in the
conference, and Carlson offered the job to Potts, who
declined. In came Jim Yeager, who had been head coach at
Iowa State for four years. His first CU team was 3-4-1, though
opened league play with three straight wins.
Now familiar with the program and the surroundings,
Yeager’s 1942 Buffs stormed to a 7-2 mark, sharing the league
title with Utah, but the Utes had won the head-to-head battle
13-0. The future seemed bright, but football was soon to take
a back seat to the events of the world.
The United States was fully involved in World War II by the
end of that season, and athletes from all schools were now
members of the various armed services. Those left on
campus were players too young to be drafted or were rejected
for one reason or another. Yeager remained the head coach for
the ’43 season, but would rejoin the Navy after the season.
Kayo Lam takes a water break during a 1933 game.
463
It was common for colleges not to travel far during the war
years of 1943 through 1945, often supplementing the schedule with teams from area service bases. Quite often, schools
would square off against their former players who were
assigned nearby.
The conference schedule was reduced to just two games in
1943 and 1944, with CU defeating Utah twice to claim the ’43
title and posted wins over the Utes and Denver to win the ’44
crown. But no one really celebrated these fairly undistinguished seasons or titles. Potts took over the team in
Yeager’s absence for the ’44 and ’45 seasons, with CU denied
a third straight league championship with a season-ending
14-8 loss at Denver to the eventual champ Pioneers.
Yeager returned as did many of the players for the 1946
season, as CU regained the services of such heralded players
as tackle Paul Briggs and ends Ed Pudlik and John Zisch.
After opening with a 13-7 win over Yeager’s old team, Iowa
State, CU traveled to Texas where it was dealt a 76-0 thrashing to the Longhorns. Some say the team didn’t recover for
two full seasons. Inconsistent play marred the last two years
of Yeager’s reign, often with the Buffs struggling to put two
good performances back-to-back. The ’46 and ’47 teams
combined to go 9-9-1, and Yeager had lost his love for coaching. He resigned shortly after the ’47 campaign and would
become one of Boulder’s leading businessmen until his death
in 1971.
It also signaled the end of an era on several fronts: the war
was fully behind the country, a new breed of younger coaches
who embraced recruiting challenges had taken over, and
locally, CU’s days in the Mountain States Conference had
come to and end. Colorado had been accepted into the
Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association, also
known as the Big Six. It was now the Big Seven.
Carlson was now faced with making the most important hire
of his two decade career as athletic director. He needed
someone to both lead Colorado into its new conference
waters as well as to stem the tide of quick coaching regimes;
four different men had piloted the football team over the
previous 16 seasons, not including the Potts-Yeager multiple
terms due to World War II. CU needed consistency.
Carlson had long lobbied for CU to make the move into a
tougher conference, with eyes specifically on the Big Six to
the east, and the move was met with quite a bit of controversy. While there was eager anticipation of CU’s impending
move to the highest level of college athletics, many had
doubts that the school could pull it off, particularly in football. They pointed to CU’s 2-8-2 record against Big Six teams
in the years leading up to the move, though all but two of the
defeats had been closely contested.
Thus it was a surprise that the search for the Buffs’ new football coach didn’t generate that much excitement, likely due
to CU’s nine losses over the ’46 and ’47 seasons, its most in a
two-year span in 20 years. Two candidates for the position
were head coaches in the east, Dudley DeRoot at West
Virginia and Bill Glassford at New Hampshire. Both eventually
headed west, DeRooy to New Mexico and Glassford to
Nebraska, but neither was Colorado’s man.
Carlson settled on a 42-year old assistant from the University
of Minnesota who had an impressive pedigree. Dallas Ward,
who played end at Oregon State in the 1920s and coached for
nine seasons in the Minneapolis high school ranks, had
learned under one of the best in Bernie Bierman, and when
Minnesota was a national powerhouse. He had a reputation of
having a great offensive mind, was extremely well organized,
and was considered a great recruiter. Though possessing a
gruff exterior, Ward also had one quality Carlson appreciated:
those who played for him generated a lasting devotion and
loyalty to the man. After nine years as an assistant under
Bierman, helping contribute to the Gophers powerful singlewing offense, he was ready to run his own program.
His first game was on Sept. 25, 1948, at home against a New
Mexico team coming off a 4-5-1 season with few expectations
of doing much, if any better. Backs Harry Narcisian, Malcolm
Miller and Don Hagin all showed some promise, but CU
never really got untracked in losing 9-6 to a Lobo team that
would win just once more the rest of the season.
Colorado had officially became a member of the Big Seven
Conference on Dec. 1, 1947, and its winter and spring sports
teams would participate in their new league before the football team. The basketball squad had an inauspicious start,
losing its first six conference games, and CU’s first football
game as a league member was no different, as the Buffs traveled to Kansas and returned to Boulder on the wrong side of
a 40-7 score.
Two games, two losses. But the Buffaloes were starting to
fully understand the intricacies of the single wing offense.
Once mastered, ball control would become CU’s trait, so
much so that in the 10-plus seasons that followed under
Ward, the Buffs would lose just four games by a bigger margin
than the 33-point setback at KU, two at the hands of mighty
Oklahoma.
Fortunately, Colorado fans didn’t have to wait any longer for
Ward’s first win, and it came against a future nemesis and
eventual rival in Nebraska. The Cornhuskers came to Boulder
a heavy favorite, but Narcisian, also nicknamed “Roaring
Twenty” as that as his uniform number, threw two touchdown
passes and had 195 yards of total offense to lead CU to a 19-6
win. The Buffaloes had amassed 374 yards on offense, its
most in two seasons, while holding Nebraska to just 150.
The following week, the Buffs scored their quickest ever in a
game (15 seconds in), a mark that would stand for 22
seasons, when Ed Pudlik recovered an Iowa State fumble in
the end zone for a 7-0 CU lead. But the Cyclones stormed back
for an 18-7 verdict, and the euphoria from the Nebraska win
subsided and was replaced by a rollercoaster ride the rest of
the year. CU bounced back with an impressive 51-7 win over
Kansas State, rushing for 267 yards and six touchdowns, then
split two games with old rivals from the Mountain States
Conference, losing 14-12 at Utah and besting Utah State, 2814. CU led No. 20 Missouri 7-0 at halftime in Columbia, but
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would succumb 27-13, and Ward’s first season came to a close
with a 29-25 loss to Colorado A&M.
Though CU couldn’t string two wins together at any point in
what amounted to a 3-6 season, the dominance over
Nebraska made the rest of the conference take notice. CU
won two of five league games and finished a respectable
fourth in the league standings, but due to scheduling issues,
CU did not play Oklahoma in its first two years of Big Seven
play. That was no doubt likely a good omen at the time.
The 1948 season was a transitory one, and a senior-dominated
team at that, with the ’49 Buffaloes a mixture of Ward recruits
and inexperienced upperclassmen trying more or less to
survive the season. CU opened by exacting some revenge
against Kansas, toppling the Jayhawks 13-12 in Boulder in
what would be the Buffs’ lone league win of the year. CU
finished 1949 with a 3-7 mark, its two other wins coming
against old RMAC and MSC pals Utah and Utah State. CU was
in every loss but one until the end, with Colorado A&M once
again polishing off the Buffs’ year on a sour note with a second
straight win in Boulder, this time by a 14-7 score.
Colorado had now suffered three straight losing seasons for
the first time in its football history.
1950s
What was alarming to followers is that CU was piling up
losses in near-miss fashion, mostly due to the team fading in
the second half and down the stretch in particular. The loss
at KU epitomized that, as CU led 21-0 midway through the
third quarter before watching the Jayhawks score four touchdowns in the game’s final 20 minutes, the winning TD coming
with 1:30 remaining.
So when Colorado led Nebraska 14-0 at halftime in the fourth
game of the year, fans were still holding their breath. This time
around, Punches recovered a fumble in the end zone for a
touchdown that sealed a 28-19 Buff win. A week later against
Arizona, CU again jumped to a 14-0 lead but needed a 77-yard
Hodel scoring run in the fourth quarter to ice a 28-25 win.
Colorado was now 3-2, the first time it had climbed over .500
more than one game into the season during Ward’s brief tenure.
CU remained one game above even with a 20-20 tie on the
road at Utah, having rallied to tie the game on a 45-yard interception return by Branby. The Buffs had a chance at winning,
but Lee Venzke’s 32-yard field goal sailed wide and Colorado
returned home from Salt Lake City with the task of preparing
to face the nation’s No. 3 ranked team.
Oklahoma had long been considered one of the nation’s top
programs, and the Buffs and Sooners had a limited history,
playing four times previous to being members of the same
conference. OU had won three, but all were hard-fought battles.
IMPORTANT DATES & MILESTONES
Oct. 21, 1950—Zack Jordan highlights Buffaloes’ 28-25 win over Arizona in
Boulder by setting an NCAA punting record: six punts for 343
yards, an average of 57.2 a kick.
Nov. 17, 1951—Colorado’s 36-14 win at Nebraska is the first national television
appearance by the Buffaloes.
Sept.20, 1952—Buffaloes beat San Jose State, 20-14, for the 300th win in
Colorado history.
Sept.27, 1952—Colorado ties Oklahoma in Boulder, 21-21, to give Oklahoma one
of only two blemishes in its 75 conference game unbeaten streak
which started in 1946 and ended in 1959.
Nov. 20, 1954—Carroll Hardy sets a national record rushing for 238 yards on just
10 attempts in a 38-14 win over Kansas State.
Jan. 1, 1957—Colorado wins its first ever bowl game, a 27-21 victory over
Clemson in the 1957 Orange Bowl at Miami.
Oct. 11, 1958—Howard Cook ties Byron White’s record by scoring 25 points
against Arizona in Tucson. Cook scored four touchdowns and
kicked one extra point to lead the Buffaloes to a 65-12 rout of the
Wildcats.
Feb. 9, 1959—Sonny Grandelius named the 15th head coach in Colorado
history.
There was reason for optimism heading into 1950, as the
team now spouted several savvy veterans and some ready-toblossom underclassmen like backs Merwin Hodel, Tom
Brookshier and Zack Jordan, the latter also a fine punting
specialist, ends Chuck Mosher and Don Branby, tackle Dick
Punches and guard Jack Swigert. But a season-opening 14-7
loss at Iowa State, in which the Cyclones scored two touchdowns late to steal the win, and a 27-21 setback at Kansas
sandwiched a 34-6 triumph in the home opener over Kansas
State had CU off to a 1-2 start.
The Sooners came riding high into Boulder, not only as the
third-ranked team in the land, but also riding a 26-game
winning streak. Ward’s teams would go 0-8-1 against
Oklahoma during his tenure, an era where most teams would
do the same (more likely 0-9), with Bud Wilkinson’s Sooners
the team of the decade. But CU was a thorn in the side to the
Sooner almost every one of those games, and the first
encounter in 1950 was no exception.
Jordan pinned Oklahoma deep in its own territory in the
opening minutes, punting the ball dead on the Sooner 2. That
eventually led to CU winning the early field position battle
and a Hodel run had CU ahead, 6-0, though Venzke missed the
extra point (he’d miss all three on the day). Oklahoma
grabbed the halftime lead, 13-6, led 20-12 after three and held
off the Buffaloes in winning, 27-18. The Sooners’ option game
rolled up 351 yards on the ground, one of the highest totals
ever against CU at the time. Still, it was the closest league
game of the season for the Sooners, which won the 1950
national championship.
Missouri dealt CU a 21-19 setback in the final conference
contest of the season, the first of several times in the 1950s
the Tigers would face the Buffs the week following the
emotional Oklahoma game. And Missouri took full advantage
of that fact, going 4-0-2 versus CU on those occasions, three
of the wins by eight points or less. In the first of such
instances, Colorado had dominated Missouri most of the
game, had a 17-2 edge in first downs at one point on the way
to a season-high 405 yards of total offense, but a late TD after
a questionable pass interference call on Brookshier set
Mizzou up for the winning touchdown.
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Now 3-4-1, with a 2-4 record in Big Seven play for a second
straight sixth place league finish, CU had non-league games
Oregon and Colorado A&M left to play. Wins would give Ward
his first winning season at Colorado, and the school’s first in
four years.
Jordan led the nation in punting with a record 48.2 average,
bolstered by a 55.0 average on four punts in a 21-7 win over
Oregon in Boulder. Jordan, a talented halfback who threw the
majority of passes in CU’s single-wing offensive attack, was
never honored as an All-American for his punting accomplishments, though he would make first-team All-Big Seven as
a senior in 1952.
Last up was the rivalry game with the Aggies, and two years
of frustration on the Buffaloes’ part was obvious as CU
thumped A&M, 31-6. The Buffs had 401 yards on offense, 271
on the ground, holding A&M to just 139 yards in the process.
Jim Dalthorp intercepted a pitch and returned it 30 yards for
a touchdown in the second half to put an exclamation point
on the win, scoring in one of the more unusual ways that can
be done in the sport.
Year three of the Dal Ward era was now in the books as was
his first winning campaign. CU was just 11-17-1 at this point
under him, but a foundation had been built. The Buffaloes
had 1,162 yards on offense including just under 800 rushing
yards in the final three weeks of the ’50 season, both school
all-time highs over a three-game span. The offense was now
fully understood by the players, and improvement on defense
was evident.
Starting in 1951, Colorado began an eight-year run under
Ward where it would post a collective 52-24-5 record. While
the Big Seven was often referred to as “Oklahoma and the six
dwarfs,” the Buffaloes were a tough second banana to the
Sooners and were generally considered as the conference’s
next best team the entire decade.
It is often said that you can’t judge a football coach until his
fourth season, when his first recruiting class comes into full
bloom. The ’51 Buffaloes, Ward’s fourth team, went 7-3, the
most wins in almost a decade, going back to the ’42 squad
and its 7-2 mark. More important was the second place finish
in the Big Seven, the first of seven second or third place
conference finishes the remainder of Ward’s tenure.
The entire starting offensive backfield returned in 1951, and
by season’s end, Hodel (597 yards), Ron Johnson (455),
Carroll Hardy (423), Woody Shelton (417) and Ralph Curtis
(233) were the main weapons in leading the Buffs to a school
record 2,516 rushing yards (a figure that two other Ward
teams down the road would obliterate). Players like sophomores Dick Knowlton (guard) and Gary Knafelc (end) would
become entrenched as three-year starters.
But there were still concerns about the defense, and the first
two games proved those valid. CU built a 14-0 lead in the
opener over Colorado A&M, only to see the Aggies pull to
within one in the fourth quarter before two late scores fueled
a 28-13 win. Northwestern then used two long pass plays to
jump to a quick 14-0 lead in the first four minutes of the next
game, cruising to a 35-14 win. CU had split its first two games
of the season for third straight year, and the result in all three
previous game threes was a loss … and No. 20 ranked Kansas
was headed into town for the first conference game of the
year.
It marked just the fifth ranked opponent CU had ever played
at the time, but the Buffaloes held their own in the first four,
owning leads at one time in all. This time, CU would lead from
start to finish. Jordan’s 2-yard touchdown run just six
minutes in got the Buffs on the scoreboard first, and the lead
grew to 14-0 on a nifty 65-yard punt return, one which
featured a reverse from Shelton to Brookshier. KU clawed
back to 14-13 by halftime, but TD runs from Johnson and
Venzke upped the lead to 28-20 with four minutes left in the
game. Venke scored again less than minute later following a
KU turnover, and CU went on to a 35-27 victory.
TIMEOUT / FRED CASOTTI
In 1952, one of the school’s all-time great personalities arrived on the CU scene. Fred “The Count” Casotti was hired as
sports information director, and he would begin a five-decade love affair with his alma mater. A ’49 graduate in journalism, the SID job opened up in the summer and athletic director Harry Carlson took a chance on the sports editor with
CU ties from a small newspaper in Iowa.
Casotti served 16 years as SID, another 20 as associate athletic director, and then 14 more as the school’s historian until
his death in 2001. As creative as they came, he penned poems and limericks in his weekly news releases that helped
garner CU national attention; the press couldn’t wait to see what prose he included in his latest mailing. Casotti wrote
three books on Colorado football, including the classic Football CU* Style, the asterisk defining CU as “Casotti
Uncensored.”
He was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 1996 and posthumously into the state of Colorado Sports Hall of Fame
in 2002 and CU’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006.
He passed away the night before a big game against Texas A&M in CU’s 2001 Big 12 title run, and a mysterious Aggie
fumble and subsequent CU recovery and return for a score saved a 31-21 win. It prompted assistant coach John Wristen
to say postgame, “You know that fumble at the end … (glances upward) … Thank you, Fred.”
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The KU win sparked the Buffs in their next two games. Curtis
rushed for 121 yards and three touchdowns on just 14
carries, leading CU to a 34-13 romp over Missouri. The
defense then played one of its finest games of the season,
holding Kansas State to just 41 plays in a 20-7 win in
Manhattan, Colorado’s first Big Seven conference road win
after eight losses.
And with a 3-0 league record, the Buffaloes were atop the
standings and squarely in the title picture. An unranked, 2-2
Oklahoma team was next, though the Sooners had won their
only Big Seven game.
CU was confident but not cocky heading in, though the fans
were optimistic, but what transpired could have set the
program back. Sooner quarterback (and future CU coach and
athletic director) Eddie Crowder, an option master not known
for his throwing prowess, threw three first quarter touchdown passes that covered 27, 67 and 38 yards to build a 27-0
lead. Oklahoma went on to win, 55-14, with Crowder passing
for 189 yards and four scores.
A key point in Ward’s career, a lesser team could have folded
the tent. However, the Buffs reeled off three straight wins, one
of which was a 54-0 demolishing of Utah where CU set school
records for rushing yards (452) and total offense (627). The
seventh win of the year came in the league finale at Nebraska,
the first televised game in school history. The Buffs did not
disappoint, and with 2,000 fans making the trip from
Colorado, Hardy and Hodel both rushed for over 100 yards in
a 36-14 win, which gave CU sole possession of second place
in the conference, behind Oklahoma.
A season-ending 45-7 loss at No. 2 Michigan State didn’t
damper the overall optimism. Most of the ’51 team was back
for 1952, and Colorado had established itself as a legitimate
conference contender.
A lackluster 20-14 win over San Jose State opened the ’52
campaign, though the Buff ground game was as advertised,
piling up 350 yards. But it was hardly the kind of game CU
wanted with No. 4 Oklahoma coming to town the following
week, with the Sooners riding a 26-game conference winning
streak.
Jordan played one of his finest games, as the 5-11, 180-pound
senior scored all three CU touchdowns as he went toe-to-toe
with OU’s Billy Vessels, the 1952 Heisman Trophy winner. But
his real weapon was his right leg, as he averaged 56.0 yards
on seven punts, including quick-kick boomers of 72, 77 and 78
yards which enabled CU to control field position.
It was a see-saw battle from the start, and neither team led by
more than a single score. Oklahoma tied it at 21 with 1:51 to
play. Colorado drove into OU territory in the waning seconds,
but time ran out after Frank Bernardi’s 22-yard run to the
Sooner 21, before the Buffs could run another play or try a
game winning field goal.
OU went on to win its next 45 league games, and in the 10year history of the Big Seven (it became the Big Eight in
1958), the Sooners were 57-0-1 in conference play with just
that one blemish, courtesy of Colorado.
CU then hit the road for a game at ninth-ranked Kansas. In a
statistically even game it came down to defense, and the
Jayhawks not once but twice stopped CU at their 1-yard line
in a 21-12 win. The 1-1-1 start could have been so much more,
which could have given the Buffs their first-ever national
ranking. Despite a 5-1-1 finish for a 6-2-2 overall record, CU
had to wait two more years for that milestone to occur.
Frustrated by a 2-2-2 mark and fourth place finish in the Big
Seven, CU took out its frustration on Colorado A&M in the
season finale. A 61-0 rout of the Aggies saw the Buffs rush for
422 yards and six touchdowns on offense, while the defense
intercepted six passes and held A&M to just 86 total yards.
Colorado slipped to 6-4 in 1953, which included a tumble to
sixth in the league with a 2-4 record, though it marked the
first time under Ward that the Buffs won their first two games.
Sitting at 0-3 in the conference prior to its game at ninthranked Oklahoma, many expected some serious OU payback
for the ’52 tie. The Buffs battled and with the single-wing
offense producing 277 yards and three touchdowns on the
ground, CU tied the game with 90 seconds remaining. But
Merrill Green’s 51-yard TD run with 36 seconds on the clock
rallied the Sooners for a 27-20 win.
Though coming close again against OU, the Buffs became
motivated for the remainder of the year, pocketing four
straight wins to polish off the season. Included on the back
end were road wins at Nebraska (14-10) and Colorado A&M
(13-7).
That carried into 1954, as the Buffs opened with five straight
wins to extend the win streak to nine, the longest since a 15game run over the 1923-24 seasons, and opened 5-0 for the
first time since 1937. Colorado did not allow a point in its first
three wins (61-0 over Drake, 46-0 versus Colorado A&M and
27-0 at Kansas), and following a 40-18 win at Arizona, CU
achieved a new pinnacle in program history.
Going into the next game at Iowa State, Colorado was a
ranked team, appearing at No. 17, and the Buffs responded
with their fourth shutout in five games, blanking the
Cyclones, 20-0. CU climbed to No. 11, and had Nebraska and
Oklahoma at Folsom Field up next.
But it all derailed the following week, when the Cornhuskers
shocked CU, 20-6. Bowl hopes were dashed seven days later
when the Sooners scored twice in the fourth quarter in rallying
to a 13-6 win. CU salvaged a 19-19 tie at Missouri in the next
game, the Buffs saved from a loss when Bernardi blocked a
game winning extra point try literally with his face. He suffered
a broken nose. Wins at Utah and versus Kansas State produced
a 7-2-1 season record, but Nebraska edged the Buffs for second
in the league and earned an invitation over the Buffs to the
Orange Bowl with Oklahoma ineligible to return (teams could
not go two seasons in a row to a bowl in the 1950s).
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Behind sophomore John “The Beast” Bayuk, CU rushed for a
school record 3,160 yards, topping 400 in four games. Bayuk
had 824 of the yards, the most by a Buff since Byron White led
the nation in 1937. In his final game, Hardy set a national
record with 238 yards on just 10 attempts in CU’s 38-14
thumping of Kansas State; CU as a team had 493 on 36 tries,
or 13.7 yards per carry, in the rout.
Hardy would go on to the play professional football and baseball, becoming famous when he became the only player to
pinch-hit for Ted Williams.
The ’55 season was a near carbon copy. Colorado won its first
four games, appeared in the rankings at No. 20 after the third
win, and zoomed to No. 14 following the fourth. Next on the
calendar, a date at No. 3 Oklahoma. CU stormed to a 14-0 lead,
only to see the Sooners rally for a 21-14 halftime lead en route
to a 56-21 thrashing. All told, CU lost four of its last six and
finished 6-4, and once again placed third in the league.
A 35-0 loss to Oregon in the ’56 season opener, on the heels of
a 10-0 setback to Colorado A&M that ended the ’55 campaign
had Ward feeling the heat. A five-game winning streak quelled
the critics, and CU was poised to enter the rankings again,
but was staring No. 1 Oklahoma in the face … and coming off
a 40-0 win at Notre Dame.
CU was ready and sprinted to a 19-6 halftime lead, but as
often was the case, Oklahoma rallied. The Sooners scored
two third quarter touchdowns, the first aided by a fourth
down conversion from their own 28, and then tacked on a
clinching score with 5:29 left to win 27-19. The pollsters were
still impressed with the Buffaloes and ranked them No. 18.
Oklahoma went on to win the national championship.
Also as usual, Missouri was CU’s next foe after Oklahoma and
the Tigers seized on the Buffs’ OU hangover and forged a 140 lead. With OU ineligible again for the Orange Bowl, the
winner of the CU-MU game would earn the invitation.
In 1955, CU had its first black football player make the varsity,
a transfer from Trinidad (Colo.) Junior College, end Frank
Clarke. He made his presence felt, leading CU in receiving in
his junior and senior seasons, but especially this day against
the Tigers. His 17-yard touchdown reception from Boyd
Dowler shaved the Mizzou lead to 14-7 in the third quarter.
Then aided by a personal foul call against Missouri for punching Bayuk, who had bit the forearm of the player after it drove
inside his faceguard, a fourth quarter drive was kept alive
and Dowler found Clarke again on an 18-yard TD play, with
Ellwin Indorf’s PAT kick giving CU a 14-14 tie.
CU earned the league’s Orange Bowl bid by virtue of the tie,
as CU finished 4-1-1 and Missouri 3-2-1. The Buffs tuned up for
the bowl with wins over Utah and Arizona, an re-entered the
polls at No. 20. A see-saw Orange Bowl against Clemson, starting with CU taking a 20-0 lead only to see the “other” CU go
ahead 21-20 early in the fourth quarter, did end on a good
note for the Buffs as a 1-yard TD run by Bayuk with 7:13 to go
paved the way for a 27-21 win and an 8-2-1 record.
Expectations were at an all-time high, but a 6-3-1 record in
1957, with a 14-13 loss at Oklahoma thanks to a blocked PAT,
and subsequent 9-6 loss to Missouri put a damper on a
season which CU led the nation in rushing with 3,224 yards.
Senior Bob Stransky was the school’s third thousand yard
rusher, finishing with 1,097 and earning All-America honors,
while junior Eddie Dove was the master of the long play, with
a 90-yard run and 80-yard reception for touchdowns.
Different season, same story inasmuch as 1958 was
concerned. A 5-0 start, which featured a 65-12 throttling of
Arizona in Tucson, had CU ranked No. 9 in the nation. The
game six opponent … No. 7 Oklahoma … CU took a 7-0 lead
… OU rallied to win, 23-7.
Colorado lost four of its last five games, save for only a 7-0
win at Utah. But it was the last two that sealed Ward’s fate. CU
led rival Colorado State (the Aggies were no longer A&M) 147 in the fourth quarter, but lost 15-14 when CSU scored a
touchdown with 4:29 left, and then used the new two-point
PAT to take the lead. Then in the finale against Air Force, in
just its third year of varsity football, the Buffs thoroughly
dominated the 7-0-1 Falcons. CU outgained them 420-160, but
fumbled 12 times, losing seven, and a late AFA score on an
intercepted pitch gave the Zoomies a 20-14 victory.
One highlight of the year was guard John Wooten earning AllAmerica accolades, the first black CU football player to earn
the distinction.
On January 23, 1959 the Regents voted 5-1 to dismiss Ward,
saying only that it was “in the best interests of the university.” The anti-Ward people in the minority rejoiced, but the
pro-Ward faction was furious.
The Regents refused to reconsider the move and the process
set forth to hire the school’s 15th head football coach. The
wish list includes a few head coaches and some notable assistants, with Michigan State aide Everett “Sonny” Grandelius
quickly rising to the top. The 29-year old was officially named
the new CU boss on February 9.
There weren’t many expectations for the ’59 season; the ’58
team was peppered with seniors, and while CU had a solid
sophomore class, the Buffs were largely inexperienced.
Grandelius brought change, jettisoning the single-wing for the
T-Formation, in addition to one of the most distinctive moves
in school history: the Buffaloes scrapped their old gold
jerseys for black and silver uniforms. The black has remained
since, sans a five year period from 1980-84 when the Regents
meddled and forced all athletic teams to wear “Colorado sky
blue at 9,000 feet.” Whatever that meant; no move before or
since had upset the alumni so.
The Buffs lost their first three games under Grandelius, a
grueling opening run of Washington, Baylor and Oklahoma.
As with any new coach, it takes time to figure out the new
schemes and game action is the best way to learn. Colorado
broke through in his fourth game with a 20-17 win over
Kansas State, but took a step back the next week with a 27-0
loss to Iowa State; the irony being that the Cyclones were one
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of the last teams to run the single-wing.
CU won four of its final five, including a 21-20 win over
Missouri. The Tigers had gone 15-1-2 against the Buffaloes
since 1938 but with a reworked schedule, didn’t get CU the
week after the Buffs battled Oklahoma (though that format
returned one year later for the next seven years). A 15-7 win
over Air Force capped the season, with Colorado finishing 55. The Buffs finished third in the conference with a 3-3 mark,
and also developed a solid quarterback in sophomore Gale
Weidner, who had made the transition from 6-man football as
a high schooler.
1960s
IMPORTANT DATES & MILESTONES
Nov. 4, 1961—Buffs edge Missouri, 7-6. SID Fred Casotti awarded the game
ball, in what was the first nationally televised game from Boulder.
Nov. 18, 1961—Buffs shut out Nebraska in Lincoln, 7-0, and hold the Huskers to
31 yards total offense and no first downs.
Jan. 1, 1962—Colorado makes its second appearance in the Orange Bowl, but
falls to LSU, 25-7.
Mar. 27, 1962—Bud Davis named the 16th head coach in Buff history, replacing
Sonny Grandelius after NCAA violations put CU on probation.
Dec. 15, 1962—Joe Romig becomes fourth Colorado player to be awarded a
Rhodes Scholarship.
Jan. 3, 1963—Eddie Crowder named the 17th head coach in Colorado history.
Nov. 22, 1963—CU and Air Force postpone their game for the following day as
the country mourns the death of President John F. Kennedy. The
game is played two weeks later on December 7 (Air Force won,
17-14).
July
1, 1965—Crowder assumes duties as Athletic Director as well as head
coach.
May 7, 1967—Joe Romig’s jersey number “67” retired at annual spring game.
Dec. 23, 1967—Colorado topples Miami, 31-21, to capture its first-ever
Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston.
Oct.
4, 1969—Buffs beat Indiana in raging blizzard, 30-7, in Boulder. Bobby
Anderson switched from quarterback to tailback for first time.
Oct. 11, 1969—Colorado blanks Iowa State, 14-0, to win its 400th game in
history.
Dec. 13, 1969—Buffs top Alabama, 47-33, to win the Liberty Bowl at Memphis.
Bobby Anderson rushes for 254 yards, and gains 295 in total
offense as game’s MVP.
The 1960 season started with a 26-0 loss at Baylor, but CU
bounced back to win the next five, topped off by a 7-0 win
over Oklahoma, finally its’ first over the Sooners since
becoming a fellow conference member. CU, 5-1 overall and 40 in the Big Eight, had set up a showdown at No. 2 ranked
Missouri.
Colorado scored first, taking an early 6-0 lead on a 38-yard
pass from Weidner to Gary Henson, and then drove to the
Tiger 4-yard line after a turnover but could not punch it in.
From that point on, Missouri showed why it was the second
best team in the nation, grinding out a physical 16-6 win. The
contest was a defensive battle (neither team gained 200
yards), and CU suffered several injuries in the game, most
notably to All-America guard Joe Romig.
Mizzou won the Big Eight, while CU finished second with a 5-
2 league record, splitting its last two encounters. The bangedup Buffs were outmanned at Kansas, dropping a 34-6 decision, but rallied for a 13-6 win over Oklahoma State, playing a
league schedule in football for the first time. The final mark
for the year was 6-4, as Air Force bested CU in the finale, also
by a 16-6 score.
CU, Missouri and Kansas were the cream of the conference
crop in 1961. Colorado had some offensive weapons to
contend with, starting with Weidner, ends Jerry Hillebrand
and Ken Blair, and halfbacks Teddy Woods and Bill Harris.
The Buffs got the first leg up on the other two when they
rallied from a 19-0 deficit early in the fourth quarter for a 2019 win. CU won its next three, climbing to 4-0 in league play
and to No. 8 in the nation. Missouri opened 5-0-1, including
three league wins, rising to No. 10; the two met in Boulder on
Nov. 4, with the league title on the line.
Colorado was hungry and had been playing good defense,
and an early score paved the way for a 7-6 win over the
Tigers. But any chance of moving substantially higher in the
rankings were dashed the following week with a 21-12 loss at
old rival Utah, though the Buffs came back and won its final
three games and earned a spot opposite Louisiana State in
the Orange Bowl. CU had won its first Big Eight title, going
undefeated in league play and finishing the year with as the
sixth-ranked team in the land. Romig repeated as an AllAmerican and earned a Rhodes Scholarship, with Hillenbrand
also garnering All-American accolades.
No. 4 LSU got the best of the Buffaloes in the bowl game,
dominating the trenches in a 25-7 win. The New Year’s Day
loss was just the first in a wave of bad news over a three
month stretch. NCAA sanctions rocked the school after the
’61 season; the organization had began its probe into
Grandelius’ program the summer prior to the season, and the
school was placed on two years probation and had 21 players
declared ineligible.
Grandelius had been dismissed prior to the penalties, on
March 17, 1962, in hopes that the NCAA would take some
mercy. It did not. In a surprise hire for his replacement,
alumni director William “Bud” Davis was named the new
coach 10 days later. He had been a very good high school
coach in South Dakota, and had been a backup quarterback
on Dal Ward’s first three CU teams. He immediately named
Ward, who had remained at the school as a teacher, one of his
assistants.
The ’62 season was one of the ugliest in school history. With
a depleted roster, the Buffs managed only a 2-8 record, six of
the losses by 20 or more points that included horrifying
defeats at Iowa State (57-19) and Missouri (57-0) and the
worst home loss ever, 62-0 to Oklahoma. Only a 6-0 win over
Kansas State the second week of the season, and a 34-10
romp over Air Force in the finale had CU on the good side of
the scoreboard. In the latter, Davis announced his resignation
to his team the night before the game and the players were
fired up to send him out a winner.
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improved those needing so brick by brick.
Perhaps it was only fitting that his first game as CU’s coach
was against defending national champion Southern
California, which also opened the ’63 season ranked as the
nation’s No. 1 team. A muddy field, one that could not be
moved, aided the Buffaloes with the Trojans leaving Boulder
with just a 14-0 victory.
After a 41-6 beating by Oregon State in Portland, Crowder’s
Buffs got him his first win at Kansas State, and then a 25-0
verdict over Oklahoma State in Boulder evened CU’s mark at
2-2. But that would be it for victories his rookie season.
Colorado dropped its last six, including a season-ending 17-14
loss at Air Force that was delayed two weeks following the
assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
The 1964 season yielded a third straight 2-8 record for
Colorado, and the losing streak reached 10 games with an 0-4
start, but winds of change were prevalent. Unlike Crowder’s
first season, which featured five losses by three or more
touchdowns, this time around six of the defeats were by a
touchdown or less. Just one was in decisive fashion, a 21-0
loss in the opener at USC, but the Trojans ran away from the
Buffs late.
Eddie Crowder
But CU was left looking to for the fourth man to lead its
program over a six-year period. Carlson once against would
look east, though a little more to the south this time. It was
quite a task in selecting Colorado’s new coach, especially
with three-ex head coaches still on the payroll, two in nonathletic capacities in Dal Ward and Davis, who had become
dean of men, and Grandelius, terminated due to the NCAA
violations. All had different-sized factions allegiant to them;
had there been such a thing as ‘Buff Nation’ in the day, it was
divided into three.
Carlson was allowed to make the decision on his own without
Board of Regents interference, and the choice was easy.
Eddie Crowder, of Oklahoma pedigree and a candidate for
the position in 1959 until he withdrew, was hired on Jan. 2,
1963. There was no way to know at the time that the selection
of the 31-year old Crowder would shape CU athletics over the
next four decades.
Crowder now had the responsibility of healing the fan base,
rebuilding morale and most important, rebuilding the
program. Seldom had Colorado ever been in a rebuilding
mode, it was fortunate enough to always more or less reload.
That was not the case now, with a depleted roster and the Big
Eight Conference growing in stature.
Crowder, wise beyond his years, “promised no miracles and
delivered none,” SID Fred Casotti used to say. Rather, he
methodically assessed all aspects of the program, and
CU was competitive for the first time in three years, and
ended ’64 on a high note with a 28-23 win over Air Force. Also
ending that season was the era of platoon football; starting in
1965, free substitution was permitted, leading to different
starters on both offense and defense. Colorado’s most
notable player to stay on the defensive side of the ball was
quarterback Hale Irwin, a future professional golfing legend.
He became an all-conference safety but golf was his first love.
In his last college performance, he won the NCAA championship.
Recruiting had gone well for Crowder, and coupled with CU’s
return to respectability on the field, things were buzzing
again in Boulder. His 1965 Buffaloes featured one of the most
talented groups of sophomores in school history, and they
proved to be the backbone in a 6-2-2 season, which included
a 4-2-1 record in the Big Eight, vaulting Colorado back into the
league’s first division. In Crowder’s third year, CU was third,
ending three years of narrowly escaping the conference basement with one sixth and two seventh place finishes.
Carlson, with the football program and the department back
on solid footing, announced his retirement in 1965, and
Crowder was the popular choice to replace him. Even though
AD-football coach dual roles were disappearing, Eddie had
learned under one of the best in Bud Wilkinson at Oklahoma,
and he eagerly accepted the offer to become just CU’s second
full-time athletic director.
The ’65 team opened at Wisconsin with one of the last scoreless ties in college football history, then won three and tied
another in starting the year 3-0-2. The first real test in
Crowder’s tenure came at Nebraska, but the No. 3 Huskers
used a 95-yard pass play to break open a 10-6 game in the first
470
half en route to a 38-13 win. Irwin had two interceptions and a
goal-line tackle the next game as CU rebounded, winning 13-0
over Oklahoma giving Crowder his first win over his alma mater.
No. 9 Missouri toppled the Buffs, which closed the year with
wins over KU and Air Force, with only Nebraska and the
Tigers ahead of CU in the conference standings. Colorado
wasn’t all the way back, but was well on the road to creating
some memorable moments as well as team history over the
next seven seasons.
Thirty lettermen returned in 1966, and Crowder’s recruiting
had gone so well that only three sophomores would make the
starting lineup. The prospects for a banner season all seemed
to line up in Colorado’ favor, but Miami, Fla., socked the Buffs
in the mouth in the opener, coming into Boulder and shutting
down the CU offense and exiting with a 24-3 win.
CU righted things in game two, bouncing No. 10 Baylor in
Waco 13-7 after the Bears had knocked off seventh-ranked
Syracuse in their opener. Reserve linebacker Steve Graves’
diving interception in the end zone in the final minute of play
preserved the win. Several black players on the CU team
(Baylor had none) were subject to racist taunts, and insults
were even piped into the Colorado lockerroom over a
speaker, infuriating the team and making this victory extra
special for the Buffaloes.
The conference season produced some great moments and
would confirm CU was all the way back as a school to be reck-
oned with. The Buffs posted four decisive wins over Kansas
State, Iowa State, Missouri and Kansas, and rallied to beat
Oklahoma (24-21), their second straight win over the
Sooners. The two losses hurt, as CU wound up on the losing
end by a combined three points. After the KSU win, even
though Colorado was now 2-1 on the year, it has scored just
26 points in the three games.
Those troubles continued against Oklahoma State, though CU
led 10-3 late in the game. The Cowboys drove 69 yards against
a prevent defense, scored a touchdown and then won it with
a 2-point conversion, 11-10. Crowder’s staff decided to tinker
with the offense, and the infusion of Dan Kelly was the
answer. He ran the option to perfection in a 41-21 win at Iowa
State, rushing for 156 yards and three scores and passing for
86 more. CU had two confident quarterbacks with distinct
differences that caused opponents trouble the rest of the
year.
CU returned home and had Nebraska on the ropes and owned
a 19-6 lead with 13 minutes remaining, but the “prevent” did
the Buffs in again, the Cornhuskers rallying for a 21-19 win.
Colorado didn’t tank it, however, won the last three league
games convincingly to finish 5-2 for second place in the
league, and then polished off a 7-3 season with a 10-9 win over
Air Force. Junior Dick Anderson, who led the Buffs in interceptions (five) and was also the team’s punter, aided the win
by blocking a Falcon field goal try midway through the fourth
quarter, which led to John Farler’s 34-yard kick for the
winning points.
TIMEOUT / RALPHIE
A live buffalo mascot, Ralphie, leads the Colorado football team out on the field both at the start of the game and second
half. It is truly one of the special sights that exist anywhere in college or professional sports, and is oft recognized as
such. Its beginning is traced to 1966, when John Lowery, the father of a CU freshman from Lubbock, Texas, donated to
the school a six-month old buffalo calf.
For a while, she was billed as “Rraalph,” but the origin of the name remains in doubt. Some say it was given by the
student body after sounds she allegedly made while running and snorting; others say it was named for Ralph Jay
Wallace, the junior class president at the time; and the original handlers will tell a third version. Regardless, an astute
fan soon discovered that the buffalo was in fact a female, thus the name alteration to Ralphie.
The initial tradition was for CU’s five sophomore class officers to run the buffalo around the stadium in a full loop.
They would run her for two hours to tire her a bit to help keep her under control by the time the game started. At the
conclusion of the run, the fans would break into the “Buffalo Stomp,” which would literally shake the stadium in deafening fashion as the team took the field. But CU officials soon had the tradition stopped because of the actual physical
damage it was causing.
Around that same time, head coach Eddie Crowder was approached with the idea the charging buffalo running out on
the field before the game with the team behind right her. Crowder thought it was a great idea, and the debut of this great
tradition took place on October 28, 1967, CU’s homecoming game against Oklahoma State. Though OSU won the game,
10-7, the tradition was here to stay, though those who had some training in such an endeavor as working with a wild
animal eventually replaced the sophomores.
Ralphie achieved nationally celebrity status, and was even kidnapped in 1970 by some Air Force Academy students as
well as being named the school’s 1971 Homecoming Queen at the height of the anti-establishment era.
Ralphie II replaced the original Ralphie following the 1978 season, and Ralphies III and IV served the school well; Ralphie
V is CU’s current live buffalo, debuting in 2008 at the annual spring game.
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Colorado had come “oh so close” to returning to the top of
the conference mountain, and with all those ’65 sophomores
set to be seniors and a great freshman team graduating a new
batch of rookies, 1967 shaped up to be a season to remember.
Something always foiled the Buffaloes from getting to the top,
though. From 1965 through 1972, CU posted eight straight
first division finishes in the Big Eight, finishing second twice,
third four times and fourth on two occasions.
Nebraska had established itself as a national power, after a
slight lull, Oklahoma returned to prominence, and both
Kansas and Missouri ended the decade with good, if not great
teams. Colorado was always in the mix, but never won or
shared the title between its last in 1961 or its next in 1976.
Other than KU and Mizzou sharing one title each, the top
rung was owned exclusively by the Sooners or Huskers.
In ’67, CU was so well thought of that it was the only Big Eight
school in the Associated Press preseason poll, opening the
year at No. 10. And the Buffs would live up to the billing, blitzing to a 5-0 start and zooming up to No. 3, trailing only Pacific
8 powers USC and UCLA. Colorado had never sniffed the top
five before, so climbing to number three was a feather in
Crowder’s cap.
The Andersons, Dick and younger brother, sophomore quarterback Bobby, were just two of many stellar performers on
the team; both would eventually be inducted into the College
Football Hall of Fame. Monte Huber blossomed at receiver,
emerging as the favorite target of Anderson. William Harris,
William Cooks and Larry Plantz were able ball carriers. Mike
Montler, Bart Bortles, Bruce Heath, Kirk Tracy, Bill Csikos
and Kile Morgan formed a great offensive line. Mike
Schnitker, Ron Scott, Bill Brundige, Rocky Martin, Frank
Bosch, Mike Veeder, Dave Bartelt and Kerry Mottl formed
the defensive front. Charles Greer, Isaac Howard and Mike
Bynum teamed with Anderson that produced a secondary
that allowed 113 or fewer yards passing seven times.
Riding into Boulder for homecoming was Oklahoma State,
essentially the same team that derailed the Buffs in ’66. The
Cowboys did it again (and would complete the hat trick in
1972). CU never got untracked, spotted OSU a 10-0 lead, and
could only carve out a single score after Boulder’s notorious
winds picked up. The ‘Pokes left town with a 10-7 win, and the
Buffs dropped to ninth in the polls.
setting out to match the 1923 for the most wins in a single
year in school history.
In the bowl, Bobby Anderson ignored a painful ankle injury
and ignited a 31-21 win over the Hurricanes. He had missed
the team bus to the stadium and had to hail a cab, with
Crowder inserting him in place of Kelly to start the second
half; he rushed for 108 yards and two scores. A see-saw affair
with four lead changes, Anderson provided the go-ahead
score on a 38-yard run with 6:55 remaining. But the win wasn’t
secure until Howard picked off a Miami pass at the UM 43,
with Anderson then directing a 34-yard drive that ended with
a Cooks 2-yard run with 1:02 left to play.
Despite the graduation of 24 seniors, good things were still
expected in 1968. Colorado opened 4-2, capped off by a wild
41-27 win over Oklahoma; CU sprinted to a 34-6 halftime lead
then held on for dear life after the Sooners scored three quick
touchdowns in 10 minutes to make a game of it.
Unfortunately, the Buffs didn’t grace the win column again
the remainder of the season, losing the final four games starting with a 27-14 setback at third-ranked Kansas, the eventual
conference champ. The year came to an end with a humiliating 58-35 loss to Air Force, as the Falcons dropped the Buffs
to 4-6 for the season in rushing for 381 yards and amassing
530 overall. The two ceased playing following the 1974
season, and this would be the last win by AFA in the series.
CU opened 1969 with a resounding 35-14 win over Tulsa, with
Bobby Anderson, now a senior and considered to be the best
quarterback in the Big Eight, accounting for four touchdowns. But the Buffs were humbled the next game, falling at
No. 2 Penn State, 27-3, though not a total shame since the
Nittany Lions went on to have an undefeated season and held
the second spot in the polls.
Big changes were in store for game three; with juniors Paul
Arendt and Jimmy Bratten primed to play quarterback, and
Anderson also being one of the nation’s top runners, Crowder
moved him to tailback. The move was unannounced until
game time, and Anderson responded with 161 yards and
three touchdowns in a 30-7 drubbing of Indiana. The Buffs
then shutout Iowa State, getting great defensive efforts from
Brundige and sophomore Herb Orvis. The pair combined for
36 tackles for loss with 22 quarterback sacks for the season,
and was making a habit of living in opponent backfields.
CU still had title aspirations, but those were wiped away in
Norman when the Sooners shut down and shut out the Buffs,
23-0. Oklahoma used the win as a springboard to a final No. 3
ranking, while CU regrouped and had to rally to beat heavy
underdog Kansas, 12-8. Colorado was 6-2, and this was the
“hey day” of bowls extending invitations whenever they
pleased after the November came around.
A tough stretch of games loomed against Oklahoma, Missouri
and Nebraska. The 12th-ranked Sooners won a shootout in
Norman, 42-30, but the Buffs returned home and got the best
of No. 5 Missouri, 31-24. Anderson scored three touchdowns
and a timely interception by Phil Irwin thwarted the Tigers,
but the win was costly with Anderson suffering a hip-pointer.
The injury limited him in a 20-7 loss at Nebraska, paving the
way for Missouri and Nebraska to be league co-champs.
The Buffs accepted a bid to the Bluebonnet Bowl, opposite
the same Miami team that upset them in Boulder in the ’66
opener. Colorado steamrolled its final two opponents in the
regular season, Kansas State (40-6) and Air Force (33-0),
Colorado won its last three league games to take third, and
the Buffs accepted an invitation to play Alabama and its
legendary coach, Bear Bryant, in the Liberty Bowl.
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Anderson rushed for 954 yards during the regular season,
and finished 11th in the Heisman Trophy race. He polished off
his career by running for 254 more and three scores in leading CU to a 47-33 win over the Crimson Tide, with the Liberty
one of the most exciting bowl games of the decade. Colorado
sprinted to a 17-0 lead, but fell behind 33-31 before Anderson
scored twice in the fourth quarter, sandwiched around a
Brundige and Orvis sack of ‘Bama QB Ned Hayden for a
safety. CU finished the season 8-3 and ranked No. 16.
1970s
lenger for the Big Eight title. The Buffs opened on the road
with a 16-9 win at Indiana, setting the stage for a nationally
televised rematch on ABC with Penn State.
The Buffs entered the polls after the Indiana win at No. 18;
Penn State was a top 10 regular, coming in at No. 4 and riding
a 23-game winning streak and a 31-game unbeaten run. Pat
Murphy made an interception for CU on the first play of the
game, and the Buffs were off and running. Branch returned
the second half kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown, and when
the smoke cleared, Colorado had routed the Nittany Lions,
41-13, and had shocked the football world.
IMPORTANT DATES & MILESTONES
May 9, 1970— Bobby Anderson’s jersey number “11” is retired at annual spring
game.
Sept.26, 1970—Colorado pulls big upset in routing Penn State, 41-13, in Boulder,
on national television. The win snapped a 23-game winning
streak and 31-game unbeaten streak by the Nittany Lions.
Linebacker Phil Irwin’s battered helmet graced the cover of
Sports Illustrated, the first time any Colorado Buffalo in any
sport graced the front page. And in a span of three games,
Crowder defeated two future Hall of Fame coaches in
Alabama’s Bear Bryant and Penn State’s Joe Paterno.
Dec. 13, 1970—Buffs make return trip to Liberty Bowl but lose to Tulane, 17-3.
Sept.11, 1971—Colorado opens season with dramatic upset of LSU at Baton
Rouge, 31-21.
Sept.25, 1971—Buffs keep rolling in ’71, upset Ohio State at Columbus, 20-14.
Nov. 13, 1971—Charlie Davis sets a Colorado and Big Eight record by rushing for
342 yards in a 40-6 rout of Oklahoma State in Boulder.
Dec. 31, 1971—Colorado completes its best season ever with a 29-17 victory
over the University of Houston in the 13th annual AstroBluebonnet Bowl. Charlie Davis rushed for 202 yards in helping
the Buffs to finish a 10-2-0 for the ’71 season.
Jan. 3, 1972—Buffs voted the number three team in the country for the ’71
season by Associated Press. It was the highest a Colorado team
had ever ranked at the end of the season, United Press
International tabbed Colorado seventh for the same season.
Oct. 21, 1972—Buffs upset No. 2 Oklahoma in Boulder, 20-14, before a national
TV audience on ABC.
Dec. 30, 1972—Colorado loses to Auburn, 24-3, in its first Gator Bowl appearance.
Jan. 12, 1974—Bill Mallory named the 18th head coach in Colorado history.
Jan. 29, 1974—San Diego selects fullback Bo Matthews as the second overall
pick in the NFL Draft, the highest a CU player has ever been
selected.
Dec. 27, 1975—Texas rallies to defeat Colorado, 38-21, in the Astro-Bluebonnet
Bowl.
Nov. 20, 1976—Colorado beats Kansas State at Manhattan, 35-28, to tie for Big
Eight championship. Buffs go to Orange Bowl, however, by virtue
of their wins over Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.
Jan. 1, 1977—Buffs make third trip to Orange Bowl, start strong with a 10-0
lead, but lose to Ohio State, 27-10.
May 1, 1977—The
largest
crowd
in
Folsom
Field
history
for any event fills the stadium: 61,500 for the “Sun Day (No. 1)”
concert series, featuring Fleetwood Mac, Bob Seger, Firefall and
John Sebastian.
Nov. 4, 1978—Largest crowd at the time in Colorado home history, 53,553, see
the Buffs fall short to No. 1 Oklahoma, 28-7.
Apr.
4, 1979—After months of legal wrangling, Chuck Fairbanks named the
19th head coach in Colorado history.
With 40 lettermen returning for 1970 plus the addition of one
of the nation’s top junior college players, Cliff Branch, now
eligible, optimism was high and CU was a legitimate chal-
CU jumped 10 spots in the polls to No. 8, its largest gain in a
single week in school history, but the celebration was short
lived. Kansas State dealt the Buffs a 21-20 setback, with a
solid Wildcat effort combined with some freak plays did the
Buffs in, the last coming after CU pulled to within one late in
the game only to have its reliable placekicker miss the gametying PAT. Iowa State paid the price the next week, as Branch
returned two punts for touchdowns (and had a third one
called back) in a 61-10 rout.
The next three games frustration sank in, as an unranked
Oklahoma team came into Boulder and won 23-15, with
Missouri then knocking CU out of the top 20 with a 30-16 win.
No. 4 Nebraska scored twice late and escaped Folsom with a
29-13 win, leaving CU 3-4 on the year and 1-4 in the league.
The Buffs came back to smack Kansas and Oklahoma State to
finish fourth in the league standings, and smashed Air Force
49-19. The Falcons, bound for the Sugar Bowl, took an early 70 lead but the Buffaloes answered with the next 35, piling up
an astonishing 438 yards … by halftime.
The finish earned CU a return invitation to the Liberty Bowl,
but the Buffs accepted the bid on the assumption the opponent would be Arkansas or Mississippi. Instead, Tulane
bartered its way into the game with a promise to buy 10,000
tickets, but the problem was that the Buffs took the Green
Wave lightly. When that happens, the result usually isn’t good
and Tulane came away with a 17-3 win. Colorado ended the
season with a 6-5 record, but Crowder had another fine crop
of sophomores ready for their debut in ’71.
And what a debut it would be. Veterans like Branch, Orvis,
John Stearns, Cullen Bryant, Billie Drake, Carl Taibi and
John Stavely were joined by sophomore stars-to-be Charlie
Davis, Ken Johnson, J.V. Cain, Bo Matthews and Randy
Geist among others. Nineteen seniors were the nucleus, 49
sophomores filled in the gaps. They had to meld quickly,
because in CU’s first three games of 1971, road contests
lurked at No. 9 Louisiana State and No. 6 Ohio State.
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Colorado started the season unranked; but after a 31-21 win
at LSU and a 20-14 stunner in Columbus, sandwiched around
the first game ever at Folsom Field on Astroturf, a 56-13 drubbing of Wyoming, the Buffs were 3-0 and ranked No. 6.
The Buffs improved to 5-0, with road games against No. 2
Oklahoma and No. 1 Nebraska ahead, and an always tough
Missouri team in-between. The Sooners and Huskers got the
best of the Buffs, but CU snared a win against The Tigers.
Blowout wins over Kansas, Oklahoma State and Air Force
improved the Buffs to 9-2, tying the school’s season record
for wins, and slotted CU at No. 7 in the polls.
How dominate was Colorado down the stretch? CU had 1,592
yards of offense, including 512 in the first half against
Oklahoma State in a game where Davis rushed for a school
record 342 yards, and allowed a paltry 637. The finish earned
CU a berth in the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl against hometown
and No. 15 Houston.
CU kept rolling, overpowering the Cougars 29-17 to post the
school’s first 10-win season. When the final votes were tabulated, a first in college football occurred that hasn’t come
close to being matched: the same conference produced the
nation’s top three teams: Nebraska, Oklahoma and Colorado.
Davis finished seventh in the nation in rushing, Taibi led a
defense that made 37 sacks, and Branch electrified all with 11
touchdowns, four via punt return.
All that returning talent had Colorado open the ’72 season
with its highest ranking ever: No. 2. Boulder was in the throes
of a football frenzy. The question was if the old saying would
rear its ugly head again, that being, “Colorado is most dangerous when it is underestimated and most likely to fail when
rated highly.” Unfortunately for CU, over the years it had
panned out … and would again in 1972.
CU opened strong enough, steamrolling its first three opponents before opening Big 8 play at Oklahoma State. The stars
were anything but aligned, as CU was without an injured
Johnson while fullback Jon Keyworth went out early and the
Buffs fumbled 10 times in a 31-6 loss. OSU had once again
sidetracked Colorado’s season, repeating its feat from 1967.
The Buffs went on to an 8-4 record in ’72, far below expectations, though defeating second-ranked Oklahoma along the
way, the highest rated team CU has ever beaten in its 118-year
football history (matched a few times later on). CU was lackluster in a 24-3 Gator Bowl loss to Auburn, and those close to
the program felt the overtime put in by Crowder as both football coach and athletic director was taking its toll.
The Buffs still had a deep team in 1973, the sophomore stars
of two years prior were now seniors, and with freshman now
eligible to play again, current sophs like Dave Logan had seen
some playing time in ’72 and a true freshman star named Billy
Waddy could excite fans almost to a Cliff Branch like level.
Colorado was still respected nationally, opening the year
ranked 10th, and would again open the season at No. 15 LSU.
But the magic of ’71 wasn’t there, as LSU captured this one,
17-6. CU reeled off four straight wins before succumbing at
No. 3 Oklahoma, but returned home to beat No. 7 Missouri.
Despite coming off two straight third place finishes, the 5-2
Buffaloes were still in position to contend for the league title
if OU slipped up as well as a prestigious bowl bid. But four
straight losses, including close setbacks to Kansas and
Kansas State dropped CU to 5-6.
Crowder had coached the Buffaloes for 11 seasons, and when
omitting his first two years with identical 2-8 records when
CU was rebuilding after the NCAA decimation, he owned a
stellar 63-33-2 record which he had compiled against allcomers. He took time off and went on a quiet mountain
retreat, and upon his return, announced his resignation as
coach in mid-December. He would remain as athletic director
for the next 11 years.
The program was in good shape, well stocked with talent and
players like Logan, Williams, Don Hasselbeck, Pete Brock,
Leon White and Emery Moorehead ready to blossom. The
CU job was both a plumb and a concern. Whoever took the
job might fear Crowder would be constantly looking over his
shoulder, a concern that never materialized. Several names
were bandied about, but Crowder settled on a man from the
“Cradle of Coaches,” Miami of Ohio. Bill Mallory had led the
Redskins to an undefeated season and a win over Florida in
the Tangerine Bowl, and his next destination was Boulder.
Mallory’s first team in ‘74 finished the same as Crowder’s last,
5-6, though posted a couple of nice wins over No. 11
Wisconsin and No. 18 Oklahoma State. And in the last game
to date played between CU and Air Force, the Buffs escaped
with a 28-27 win, its sixth straight over the Falcons.
Mallory’s recruiting couldn’t match Crowder’s, though he did
bring in some talented junior college players in Terry Kunz,
Troy Archer and Tony Reed. He also landed a talented prep
running back in James Mayberry.
The 1975 season was another one of those that could have
been. After opening with three straight wins, Colorado reappeared in the national rankings (No. 19). The opponent first
up with CU back on the national scene was top ranked
Oklahoma in Norman. The Buffs went toe-to-toe with the
superior Sooners, featuring the Selmon brothers, and a 68yard march in the game’s waning minutes pulled CU to within
21-20. The players wanted to go for two and the win, but
Mallory knew a tie could mean the league title and the Orange
Bowl berth down the road. CU went for the tie, but Tom
Mackenzie’s kick hooked it far to the left.
To CU’s credit, it went on to win five of the next six games,
close the regular season at 9-2 with another third place finish
in the conference, and enter the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl
ranked No. 10. CU faced No. 9 Texas, which more or less was
playing a home game, and the Longhorns used a dominant
second half to topple the Buffs, 38-21.
The 1976 season was one of the wackiest ever in Big 8 history,
with five schools in the hunt for the title down to the last
474
weekend. CU won three of its four non-conference games, but
dropped the league opener to No. 6 Nebraska. Undaunted,
the Buffs picked themselves up off the ground, won a wacky
one with two late touchdowns at Oklahoma State the next
week, a key victory it would turn out later on. Wins over Iowa
State and Oklahoma at home, the latter also proving to be
important, improved CU to 6-2, 3-1 in the league and to No. 14
in the nation. Colorado was in control of its own destiny at
that point, but it was short-lived after losing at No. 16
Missouri in week nine.
The debts were piling up; season ticket sales never came
close to what was expected, as CU was in a $1 million hole
after capital improvements were made based on income that
never materialized, combined with the new debt from a $7.7
million basketball arena. Many in CU’s constituency were
offended, some lost forever, when on June 11, 1980, Crowder
was forced by President Arnold Weber and the Board of
Regents to cut seven sports, including the traditional longtime programs of baseball, swimming and wrestling.
1980s
A big win over Kansas in the Folsom finale, coupled with
other events, had the Buffs facing a must win situation at
Kansas State to close the regular season. Colorado won a
shootout, 35-28, and was tied atop the standings with OSU at
5-2. But Oklahoma and Nebraska were both 4-2 and played
several days later on Thanksgiving; CU would sweat it out,
but an OU win gave the Buffs the edge with head-to-head wins
over both the Sooners and Cowboys. The share of the league
title earned Colorado the Orange Bowl berth.
No one knew at the time it would be CU’s last bowl appearance for nine seasons, and after taking a 10-0 lead over Ohio
State, the Buckeyes scored the game’s final 27 points. The
season was still deemed a success.
Mallory didn’t know it at the time, but he had two years left
in Boulder. Both his ’77 and ’78 teams opened 5-0, one climbing to No. 3 and the other to No. 13. But poor finishes led to
7-3-1 and 6-5 marks, and he was fired days after the ’78 season
came to a close.
Crowder wanted a big name this time, and Nebraska’s Tom
Osborne took a courtesy visit to Boulder, likely to better his
own situation back in Lincoln. Names were thrown around,
but no one had the inside word on who was Crowder’s next
man.
On Dec. 18, during the NFL’s Monday Night Football game
featuring New England at Miami, the legendary Howard Cosell
broke in with an announcement that Patriot coach Chuck
Fairbanks, Oklahoma’s old boss from 1967-72, had accepted
CU’s offer to be its next head coach. Miami went on to rout
the Patriots, tying New England for the division crown, and
the Pats lost in the first round of the playoffs. The owners
were furious, and took Fairbanks and CU to court, claiming
breach of contract. After New England won some preliminary
hearings, an out of court settlement was reached, with
Fairbanks giving up deferred income to the tune of $100,000,
while CU had to pay the Patriots twice that amount.
Fairbanks finally was cleared to take over the program on April
4, 1979, after Bob Cortese did a masterful job of coordinating
recruiting and keeping things intact while CU awaited the
court’s ruling. Trying to instill pro schemes on the college kids
never clicked, however, and CU lost eight of its first nine en
route to a 3-8 season. Somehow, Mark Haynes and Stan Brock
were still able to be recognized as All-Americans, a credit to
their talents. And though hardly a big deal at the time, the
season opener against Oregon was the first college football
game televised on an all sports cable network called ESPN.
IMPORTANT DATES & MILESTONES
Oct.
4, 1980—In one of the wildest games ever played at Folsom Field,
Oklahoma defeats CU 82-42. Several NCAA and Big Eight records
were smashed.
June 9, 1982—Bill McCartney named the 20th head coach in Colorado history.
Sept.15, 1984—Tight end Ed Reinhardt undergoes brain surgery to save his life
less than two hours after Colorado’s 27-20 loss at Oregon.
Reinhardt had a blood clot removed from the left side of his
brain.
Mar. 25, 1985—Bill McCartney announces that the Buffs have switched to the
wishbone, CU’s “offense of the future.”
Nov. 23, 1985—Colorado’s 30-0 win over Kansas State gives CU a 7-4 regular
season record, which also enables the Buffs to win the NCAA’s
most improved team honor for 1985.
Dec. 30, 1985—Colorado loses to Washington, 20-17, in the second annual
Freedom Bowl.
Oct. 25, 1986—Colorado defeats Nebraska (20-10), the first Buff win over the
Huskers since 1967.
Nov. 22, 1986—Buffs destroy Kansas State, 49-3, to finish second in the Big
Eight. CU’s 6-1 league record is its second best ever.
Dec. 31, 1986—Baylor defeats Colorado, 21-9, in the 28th annual Bluebonnet
Bowl.
Oct. 17, 1987—Colorado defeats Kansas, 35-10, for its 200th win at Folsom
Field.
Oct. 31, 1987—Buffs roll over Iowa State at Ames, 42-10, for CU’s 500th win in
its history.
Nov. 28, 1987—Buffs lose to Nebraska, 24-7, in first game at Folsom Field with
lights (mid-afternoon kickoff).
Oct. 22, 1988—Oklahoma edges CU, 17-14, in the first night game ever played
at Folsom Field.
Dec. 29, 1988—Colorado loses to Brigham Young, 20-17, in the fifth annual
Freedom Bowl.
Aug. 23, 1989—Colorado’s No. 14 ranking in both the AP and UPI polls marks the
first time the Buffs are ranked in the preseason since 1977.
Nov. 18, 1989—The Buffs’ 59-11 win at Kansas State gives CU its first undefeated
regular season since 1937, and clinches the Big Eight Conference
Championship (CU’s first outright title since 1961). In the game,
sophomore quarterback Darian Hagan goes over the 1,000-yard
mark for the season in both rushing and passing, becoming only
the sixth player to accomplish that feat in NCAA history.
Nov. 27, 1989—Colorado ascends to the nation’s No. 1 ranking, the first time in
its 100-year history that CU earns the wire service top spot.
Jan. 1, 1990—Colorado loses its bid for its first-ever national championship,
losing 21-6 to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.
Jan. 2, 1990—The Buffs finish the year ranked No. 4 in the polls, the secondhighest final ranking by any Colorado team.
Jan. 18, 1990—Bill McCartney is named the Bear Bryant Coach-of-the-Year,
giving him a sweep of the national coach-of-the-year honors.
475
A 1-10 record in 1980, the lone win over Iowa State, followed
the disastrous ’79 campaign but featured a change considered even worse by fans and alumni. The Regents imposed
CU’s athletic teams to do away with the popular black
uniform color and replace it with “Colorado Sky Blue at 9,000
feet.” Down through years, people blamed Fairbanks for this,
but he had nothing to do with it.
The school also adopted a new logo in the summer of 1981,
not overly accepted at first but one that in due time won most
everyone over. Some staffers dubbed it the “piggalo” after
Fairbanks saw the design, took one of his famous long drags on
a cigarette and uttered, “That thing looks like a - - - - - - - pig.”
A 3-8 season lay ahead in ’81, though the Buffs won the games
many want most, the season opener (45-27 over Texas Tech),
homecoming (11-10 over Oklahoma State) and the finale (2421 over Kansas State). But the story of the year was a sad
one. In late October, tailback Derek Singleton, who had
caught the 2-point conversion pass the previous Saturday to
beat OSU, fell ill in his Ames hotel room. Spinal meningitis
was the diagnosis, and on New Year’s Day ’82, the Buff sophomore passed away.
On June 1, 1982, Fairbanks informed Crowder that he was
resigning to take the head coaching job with the New Jersey
Generals of the fledgling United States Football League. His
era thus came to an end after just three seasons and a 7-26
record, though CU did escape finishing in the conference
cellar all three years.
Things would eventually change, and a novelty t-shirt later
would confirm it, but not for several years.
Crowder needed to act quickly to fill the vacant head coaching role; fall camp was only two months away. But the
program was deep in debt, after paying off Mallory, settling
with the New England Patriots to secure Fairbanks, and the
cost of women’s sports under Title IX guidelines, programs
that provided practically no revenue, among other capital
expenses accrued.
Crowder had vowed to get the department financially viable
again, so this would be the most important hire of his 20-year
career as athletic director. CU had to invigorate the season
ticket base, but could not afford a exasperating strung out, or
messy, search.
Drake coach Chuck Shelton surfaced as a top candidate; after
all, his Bulldogs had beaten the Buffaloes not once but twice,
the second time being a good old fashion whooping. He interviewed two days after Fairbanks resigned and was generally
well received, though there were doubters because of his lack
of big-time football experience, one of those being President
Weber.
Legendary Michigan coach Bo Schembechler phoned
Crowder and gave a glowing recommendation of his defensive coordinator, Bill McCartney. It was June 7 when
McCartney came in for his interview, and Crowder assigned
Fred Casotti to usher him about.
The story on how McCartney surfaced to the top and was
named CU’s 20th head coach is best told by, well, McCartney.
“There were about 15 people representing all kind of
factions on campus and the alumni,” McCartney recalled in
a 2007 interview for CUBuffs.com. “About 15 minutes before
I was going to go before them for the interview, I said to
Fred, ‘What do you think my chances are?’ He said, ‘Coach,
it’s third and long. You’d better make a big play.’
“That was the best thing he could have said, otherwise I
might have tip-toed into the interview. After Fred told me
that, I threw caution to the wind, decided to get aggressive and put my best foot forward. The format was for
them to ask me questions, or that’s what they had in
mind. But I stood up, and I said before I take any questions, I want to make a statement. I spoke for about 15,
20 minutes and told them who I was, my background,
what I had done at the University of Michigan, my
philosophies and values, and what I would bring to the
University of Colorado if I was to get the job. I was the
only one talking, and after I was done speaking, nobody
asked me a question.
“I went from there to meet the president, and he had
already gotten a phone call following the first interview.
He was energized and anxious to see me, and was warm
and welcoming. Later that night, they took me to meet the
Board of Regents, as by chance they were having their
monthly meeting in Denver. I was waiting with Casotti in
the car, waiting for a break in their meeting to be introduced, and I asked Fred again, ‘What do you think my
chances are?’ And Fred said, ‘Coach, fourth and short.
You just need to make a first down.’ So I just needed to
move the chains. That Tuesday night, Eddie offered me
the job. It all happened so fast.”
McCartney was officially named head coach on June 9. In less
than eight weeks, he had to assemble a staff and prepare for
the season, and do some of the obligatory head coach things
around town with the fans and public. And he would not have
a chance to meet his team until they reported in August.
In looking back at his first interviews, one would have
thought the media was interviewing a prophet. A sampling of
Mac’s comments:
Long-time BYU head coach LaVelle Edwards was flown to
Boulder for a day-long interview, but he generally wasn’t
interested in leaving Provo, where he would win a national
championship two years later.
476
“I promise you a program based on integrity and
honesty, with the top priority on graduating students.
That’s how we’re going to measure success.”
“I see Colorado as being a lot like Michigan in being
able to attract the superior student-athlete. Our standards are better here than most, but that has to be
looked at as an advantage.”
“You achieve what you emphasize. Until you set
specific goals, you’re liable to miss opportunities
that come up along the way.”
“I can only predict how Colorado will play, with
enthusiasm, togetherness and tenacity. Every single
squad that I coach here will be team-oriented.”
“We need to enhance our reputation here (in
Colorado). You make your living at home first. We
want the high school players and coaches to develop
their loyalties to us, not out of state schools.”
“My family and I want to sink roots in this place. We
plan on being here as long as you want us.”
He said all seven of those statements in the first few days
after being hired, and all seven eventually came true: over 80
percent of his seniors graduated; many goals were reached if
not surpassed, as evidenced by a national title and three Big
8 crowns; his CU squads were team-first, individuals second;
Buff football returned to prominence in the state, largely due
to his first recruiting class snaring most of the top local
preps; and once the McCartney’s arrived in Colorado, they
were here for good.
The road was rocky at first, to be expected when one takes
over a depleted program 94 days before the season opener.
His opening day roster had 77 players total, 73 on scholarship, some 22 under the maximum at the time; Fairbanks’ last
recruiting class included 15 junior college transfers, but only
four who ever made it to campus due to a variety of reasons,
though it did at least have 10 state high schoolers, many of
which played key roles early in Mac’s tenure, most notably
linebacker Barry Remington.
Wins and losses became academic the following week, when
Reinhardt, who caught 10 passes for 142 yards in the opener,
suffered a life-threatening head injury in a 27-20 loss at
Oregon. He spent a month in a coma after having a blood clot
removed from the surface of his brain. The burden of a teammate battling against death was a lot for a young Buffalo team
to bear, and was a factor in CU’s 1-10 record. Redshirt freshmen were also all over the two-deep, and their inexperience
showed as they simply were no ready for the grind of the Big
8. Four of the losses were by 10 points or less.
Reinhardt did not fully recover from the injury. He suffered
some partial paralysis that also affected his speech and his
cranial functions, but has some remarkable accomplishments
thanks to the support of his family, particularly his parents,
Ed Sr., and Pat.
Regardless, fans were getting restless. To compound the
issue, Crowder achieved his goal of making the department
financially sound again and retired as athletic director, effective Sept. 1, with former CU ski coach Bill Marolt, who had
coached the U.S. Ski Team to its best performance ever in the
’84 Winter Olympics, taking over. Five games into the season,
Marolt had seen enough of how McCartney was running his
program and extended his contract, not an overly popular
move at the time, but it was something that stabilized the
program. That despite the slightest possible improvement in
the schools’ record over Mac’s first three years, 7-25-1,
compared to that of the Fairbanks Era (7-26). The extension
allowed him to “work with a net” of sorts.
What most remember about his 1982 season is not the 2-8-1
record, but Mac’s designation of Nebraska as Colorado’s
rival. Now the Huskers had won 14 straight in the series, the
last four by an average of 41 points. The Buffs gave Nebraska
a brief scare in the first encounter under McCartney, trailing
20-14 entering the fourth quarter before losing by 40-14, but a
tone had been set for the future.
Mac had won the fans over on one controversial issue. In
home games against Nebraska and Oklahoma, CU donned the
old, favorite black jerseys in lieu of the blue it had worn since
1980. There was widespread approval, and CU would junk the
blue the next season. Besides, the team definitely played
better in black, evidenced by leading No. 5 Nebraska 7-3
entering the fourth quarter, the first time CU held a lead that
late in a game against the Huskers in 17 years, before losing
24-7. CU was tied with No. 9 Sooners at halftime before
succumbing as well.
There were many ups and downs the next two seasons. There
was modest improvement in 1983, with CU finishing with a 47 record. The signature win was a 31-3 drubbing of Colorado
State in the resumption of the in-state rivalry that had been
dormant for 25 years. Off the field, he landed 11 high school
players from the state in his first recruiting class, including
Eric McCarty, the local kid from Boulder High who many
considered the prize of the class, and signed 32 players from
Colorado high schools in his first three classes.
“A lot of the alums had told me they hated the powder
blue … they wanted the black jerseys back,” McCartney
said. “We timed it up so we could get the maximum impact
from it. So that really came from guys who had played
there who had worn the black and gold. We had warmed
up in blue, and then came out in black, and the players
were ecstatic. It jacked them up.”
The 1984 season was filled with anger, sadness and disappointment. Colorado designed a two-tight end scheme on
offense and had two stellar players at the position in Jon
Embree and Ed Reinhardt. The new offense was not made
public until the Denver Post beat writer revealed it days
before the season opener against Michigan State, using the
typical over-used media line of it was the public’s right to
know. The disclosure of what CU planned to do infuriated
McCartney, saying his team lost its edge for the opener (MSU
won, 24-21).
His first three teams had passed for over 6,700 yards, but the
running game was non-existent and CU was soft on defense,
nowhere near Mac’s standards in defending the run.
In March 1985, McCartney announced perhaps the boldest
move in Colorado football history: the Buffaloes were switching to the wishbone formation on offense. Reaction was
mixed. Was McCartney doing the right thing, or was this a
desperate move of a crazed coach out of options?
It was the former. CU was the nation’s most improved team in
477
’85, its 7-5 record the first winning mark at the school since
1978, and the Buffs earned their first bowl invitation in nine
years. The team produced two of the most staggering statistical turnarounds in NCAA history, going from last to ninth in
rushing and from last to first in net punting, the latter largely
due to the leg of All-American Barry Helton. CU also moved up
from 102nd to 37th against the run. CU’s 4-3 mark in league play
helped McCartney earn Coach of the Year honors in the Big 8.
The wishbone was the reason for the turnaround, but not so
much on offense, though quarterback Mark Hatcher usually
ran it to perfection. As the running game improved, the
defense saw it every day in practice and that was the area
where CU made its greatest strides.
CU posted big non-league wins over Oregon and Arizona, and
beat up everyone but the big three of the day in league play,
though CU battled Nebraska, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State
as well as anyone. The season ended with a disappointing 2017 loss to Washington in the Freedom Bowl, though if instant
replay was in existence at the time, a Mike Marquez fumble
near the goal line would have showed he was down and the
ground caused it instead of the Huskies gaining possession.
The Buffs were 6-6 in 1986, rebounding after an 0-4 start that
included three losses by a combined 10 points. CU began to
roll in league play, gaining momentum with a 20-10 win over
No. 3 Nebraska, its first win over the Huskers in 19 years.
There were several stars in the game, and CU thoroughly
dominated; when Remington made an interception with six
seconds remaining, the stands emptied and what many
referred to as “The Turning Point” in Mac’s tenure, had
occurred. School officials did not turn off the scoreboard
until Monday afternoon.
“It was our ability to defense them is what won that
game,” McCartney noted of holding the Huskers to just 123
rushing yards. “The wishbone toughened up our defense.
Guys were pounding off the line of scrimmage because
it’s an attack offense that creates a new line of scrimmage. The achievement that day was not how prolific on
offense we were, but how we controlled the game on
defense.”
Lo and behold, in the next to last game of the season,
Colorado and Oklahoma, both 5-0 in the conference, played
for the title and the Orange Bowl berth that came with it. Now
the Sooners were experts at the wishbone, and had dismantled CU in ’85 by 31-0; this game was a bit more competitive,
but OU never threw a single pass in pulling away for a 28-0
win. The Buffs routed Kansas State in Manhattan in the finale,
and earned a bid to the Bluebonnet Bowl, where Baylor got
the best of CU, 21-9.
The Buffaloes went 7-4 in 1987, but were surprisingly shutout
of the bowls. A new tradition was born this season, the team
donning all black uniforms for games the players thought
were special; the first time occurred in the season-ending loss
to Nebraska.
CU opened 1988 with an easy 45-3 win over Fresno State, a
tune-up for one of the first real non-conference road tests in
the McCartney Era, No. 19 Iowa in Iowa City. It was a typical
hot, humid Midwestern Saturday, but Colorado’s offense
clicked and after a great defensive stand late, CU rallied for a
24-21 win.
“That Iowa game was key, they had an outstanding team,
so for us to go in there and beat them, it was one of those
milestone games,” Mac recalled. “It put us in another category, it identified us as a team that could go on the road
and beat a great team. I look back on that with great
fondness.”
Nail-biters against Oregon State and Colorado State followed,
the Buffs rallying in the fourth quarter to win both, completing the four-game non-conference sweep for the first time
since 1978. The winning streak came to an end the following
Saturday, when eventual Heisman Trophy winner Barry
Sanders led Oklahoma State to a 41-21 win in Boulder. The
Buff “D” did a decent job containing him at first, but a 65-yard
run in the third quarter broke open a 24-14 game and the
diminutive back would finish with 174 yards.
Colorado went on to win four of its next six, finish fourth in
the conference a second straight year and post an 8-4 record
after dropping a 20-17 decision to BYU in the Freedom Bowl.
Wins were coming more frequently for the program, but the
Buffs couldn’t crack the conference nut, secure a bowl
victory or earn a final poll ranking. CU did crack the AP poll
once, at No. 19, but fell out after a 7-0 loss at Nebraska (the
last time anyone had shut out the Buffs through 2007, as CU
started the next week what would grow into the ninth longest
scoring streak, and counting, of all-time).
Tragedy struck the program again when it was announced in
late March that quarterback Sal Aunese was diagnosed with
stomach cancer. Aunese battled the disease for six months
before succumbing on Sept. 23, 1989. A team player to the
end, he passed away on CU’s bye date after attending CU’s
first three games, all at home, with an emotional reception
from the Folsom Field crowd for him as he watched from the
press box as his Buffs dismantled No. 10 Illinois, 38-7, a week
before he died. His replacement/protégé, Darian Hagan, led
the Buffs in his absence to wins in those first three; in fact, his
first play of the season was a 75-yard run to the Texas 2-yard
line, igniting a 27-6 win.
The team had dedicated the season to Sal, and it was a very
emotional week leading up to the fourth game at Washington.
There was a memorial service Monday afternoon at Macky
Auditorium on the Boulder campus,, and prior to the game in
Seattle, the team knelt, pointed skyward, and went on to whip
the Huskies. Afterwards, it was revealed that Sal had written
a letter to the team, closing with the phrase, “Bring Home The
Orange Bowl.”
This very talented team was now on a mission, and rolled to
easy victories in the first three league games by scores
national powerhouses regularly won with, 49-3 (over
478
Missouri), 52-17 (at Iowa State) and 49-17 (versus Kansas).
The offense had evolved into the “I-Bone” from its wishbone
roots, with over 400 rushing yards in each of the games as CU
raised its record to 7-0 with the “Big Reds” up next.
The first test was at Oklahoma on Oct. 28; the Sooners had won
12 straight in the series, and the Buffs had come as close to
beating OU in ’88 as they had in seven meetings under
McCartney. Known for inspiring his team with T-shirt slogans,
Mac’s most notable ever was produced for this game, which
the players wore on the team plane to Oklahoma. “Things Have
Changed,” they broadly declared, and the slogan would gain
national acclaim after the Buffs left Norman with a 20-3 win.
“That was a milestone victory,” McCartney said. “That
was a big, big thing to do, to go to Norman and win. That
came within a two-year window where we won at Iowa,
at Oklahoma, at Washington, at Texas, at Nebraska.
Those established us as a national power, because those
were hard things to do. From there, we were able to
sustain things for a while. Oklahoma wasn’t able to beat
CU for 11 years; they had put 82 points on the board
when Fairbanks was here. So for them not to beat us
between 1989 and 1999 was a phenomenal achievement
by this program.”
The atmosphere in Boulder on Nov. 4, 1989, was like nothing
that had preceded it, or has been since. It was that rare
confluence where both teams were undefeated (each 8-0),
with CU ranked No. 2 and Nebraska No. 3 in the Associated
Press poll, with the positions reversed on the UPI ballot.
Colorado was the national darling, with interest high as
people watched how this team was reacting after the death of
one of its leaders. Over 600 media credentials were issued for
the game, and at halftime, CU honored its “All Century” team,
recognizing the top players in the school’s first 100 years of
football.
The Huskers tried to take the crowd right out of it. After holding CU to a quick three plays and out and returning a punt to
its 49-yard line, NU scored on its first offensive play with
Gerry Gdowski throwing a 51-yard touchdown pass to Bryan
Carpenter for a 7-0 lead just 90 seconds in.
But CU settled down and tied the game on what many
consider one of the program’s signature plays in the
McCartney Era. Running he option to perfection, Hagan
sprinted some 30-plus yards downfield, with J.J. Flannigan in
his sights to his left the entire way. When an NU defender
committed to Hagan, he delivered one of his classic pitches
to Flannigan who took it the rest of the way, the play covering
70 yards. The crowd was back into it, if they were ever really
out of it, and the Buffs worked to an eventual 27-21 win.
A desperation pass by Gdowski to the end zone as time ran
out was batted down by Dave McCloughan, and the fans
rushed the Folsom Field floor for just the second time ever.
As with the ’86 Nebraska game, the scoreboard remained on
all weekend with the final score and “Things Have Changed”
scrolled atop it.
The Buffs finished off an 11-0 regular season with blowout
wins over Oklahoma State (41-17) and Kansas State (59-11),
rushing for 518 yards against the Wildcats. After things shook
out nationally, the Buffs entered the Orange Bowl and a date
with No. 4 Notre Dame ranked as the No. 1 team in country,
playing for its first national championship in the sport (CU
had 12 in skiing at the time).
But the dream of an undefeated season ended with a 21-6 loss
to the Fighting Irish. CU had its chances in the first half and
could have led by 17-0 or 21-0, but instead were in a scoreless
tie. Notre Dame scored twice quick in the third quarter, and
salted the game away with a nine-minute, 17-play drive in the
fourth.
Guard Joe Garten, linebacker Alfred Williams (27 tackles for
loss, 11 sacks) and punter Tom Rouen (43.8 net average) all
were named consensus first-team All-Americans, with 10
players All-Big 8 performers.
McCartney, the unanimous choice for national coach of the
year honors for 1989, viewed that season as a “magical year.
When we discovered Sal was terminally ill, that brought
our team together in a way that nobody could orchestrate or facilitate. It happened in a way that all of us who
were a part of that saw a group of players and coaches
that put the team before being an individual. It was a
team that was together, motivated, bonded together,
driven and hitting on all cylinders most of the time. It was
just unfortunate we couldn’t bookend it with a win over
Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.”
1990s
IMPORTANT DATES & MILESTONES
July 26, 1990—Bill McCartney signs a 15-year contract to continue as head
coach at Colorado, the longest contract extension in CU’s athletic
history.
Aug. 26, 1990—Colorado and Tennessee battle to a 31-31 tie in the inaugural
Disneyland Pigskin Classic at Anaheim, Calif.
Oct.
6, 1990—Eric Bieniemy rushes for 217 yards in a 33-31 win at Missouri, in
the process passing Charlie Davis as the school’s all-time leading rusher. The game is best remembered for Colorado being
awarded five downs at the end, though no fault of CU’s.
Nov. 17, 1990—Colorado crushes Kansas State, 64-3, as the Buffs roll to the first
back-to-back titles in Big Eight Conference play. The following
Monday, CU is ranked No. 1 in the nation, the second straight
year the Buffaloes end the regular season as college football’s
number one team.
Dec. 4, 1990—Senior outside linebacker Alfred Williams is named the recipient
of the Butkus Award, the first CU player to win one of college
football’s big-time trophies.
Dec. 10, 1990—With the announcement of the UPI All-America team, tailback
Eric Bieniemy, guard Joe Garten and outside linebacker Alfred
Williams become the first three unanimous All-Americans in
CU history.
Jan. 1, 1991—A 10-9 win over Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl ends a sevengame CU bowl game losing streak and positions the Buffaloes for
the national title.
Jan. 2, 1991—Colorado is named the national champion by both the Associated
Press and USA Today/CNN, the first national championship in
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football in the school’s history. United Press International tabbed
CU second, one point behind Georgia Tech, in its poll.
Dec. 25, 1993—Colorado defeats Fresno State, 41-30, in the 12th annual Aloha
Bowl.
Jan. 8, 1991—Quarterback Charles Johnson, the most valuable player in the
Orange Bowl, appears on NBC’s “Tonight Show,” the first CU
athlete to ever appear on the program.
Sept.24, 1994—In what would eventually be selected as the national play-of-theyear and one of the top plays of all-time, Kordell Stewart throws
a 64-yard touchdown pass to Michael West-brook, via a Blake
Anderson tip, as Colorado rallies to beat Michigan at Ann Arbor
as time expired, 27-26.
Dec. 9, 1991—Jay Leeuwenburg becomes the fourth player in CU history to
earn unanimous All-America honors when he is selected to the
AP and UPI teams.
Dec. 28, 1991—Alabama defeats Colorado, 30-25, in the second Blockbuster
Bowl. It is later confirmed that the Crimson Tide spied on CU’s
bowl practices and knew the Buffs were changing offenses.
Dec. 5, 1992—Jim Hansen becomes the fifth CU football player to earn the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. He was the 19th University of
Colorado student to be afforded the honor. The senior offensive
tackle became CU’s first three-time Academic All-American three
days later (and CU’s first “Academic All-American-of-the-Year.”)
Dec. 6, 1992—Senior cornerback Deon Figures is named the recipient of the
Jim Thorpe Award, given to the nation’s top defensive back.
Jan. 1, 1993—Syracuse defeats Colorado, 26-22, in the 22nd annual Fiesta
Bowl.
Oct. 16, 1993—Colorado defeats Oklahoma, 27-10, as Bill McCartney wins his
78th game as head coach, thus passing Fred Folsom and becoming the all-time winningest coach in school history. In that game,
Lamont Warren throws a 34-yard touchdown pass to Charles
Johnson; Warren slipped on the turf as he threw it and Johnson
was interfered with but still made the catch lying on the ground
in a play that was selected as the national play-of-the-year.
Nov. 30, 1993—Charles Johnson is named offensive player-of-the-year in the Big
Eight, the first wide receiver to ever win the award.
Nov. 19, 1994—One of the most eventful days in CU football history: tailback
Rashaan Salaam becomes just the fourth player ever in the NCAA
to rush for over 2,000 yards in a season; quarterback Kordell
Stewart becomes the Big Eight Conference’s all-time total offense
leader; and following CU’s 41-20 win over Iowa State in Boulder,
head coach Bill McCartney announces that he will retire following CU’s bowl game.
Nov. 28, 1994—Rick Neuheisel named the 21st head coach in Colorado history
(took over program on Jan. 3, 1995).
Dec. 1, 1994—Junior tailback Rashaan Salaam wins the Doak Walker Award as
the nation’s top running back. The previous day, Salaam won the
Walter Camp Player-of-the-Year Award.
Dec. 8, 1994—Senior cornerback Chris Hudson wins the Jim Thorpe Award as
the nation’s top defensive back.
Dec. 10, 1994—Junior tailback Rashaan Salaam becomes the first player in
University of Colorado history to win the Heisman Trophy. The
announcement is made at New York’s Downtown Athletic Club
and televised nationally on ESPN.
Jan. 2, 1995—In Bill McCartney’s final game as head coach, the Buffs defeat
Notre Dame, 41-24, the 24th annual Fiesta Bowl. Quarterback
Kordell Stewart and defensive tackle Shannon Clavelle are named
the game’s most valuable players.
Apr. 22, 1995—Seven Buffs are selected among the first 71 picks of the annual
NFL draft.
Sept. 2, 1995—Rick Neuheisel becomes the first coach at CU since 1932 to win
his first game, as the Buffaloes defeat Wisconsin in Madison, 43-7.
Sept.30, 1995—John Hessler sets a school record with five touchdown passes in
CU’s 38-17 win at Oklahoma, which was his first career start. He
duplicated the feat a little more than a month later (Nov. 4) in a
45-32 win at Oklahoma State.
Jan. 1, 1996—Colorado defeats Oregon, 38-6, in the 60th annual Cotton Bowl.
Nov. 29, 1996—Koy Detmer becomes the first player in school history to pass for
over 3,000 yards in a season in CU’s 17-12 loss at Nebraska.
Dec. 14, 1996—Matt Russell is named the winner of the Butkus Award as the
nation’s best linebacker, the second CU player to win the trophy.
Dec. 30, 1996—CU defeats Washington, 33-21, in the 19th annual Holiday Bowl,
securing a third straight 10-win season for the Buffaloes and a
four-game bowl winning streak, the first of both in school
history.
Nov. 14, 1998—CU’s 37-8 win over Iowa State is the 600th in the program’s
history.
Dec. 25, 1998—In the 1,000th game in its history, Colorado defeats Oregon, 5143, in the 17th annual Aloha Bowl. Mike Moschetti throws four
touchdown passes and Ben Kelly returned the opening kickoff for
a touchdown as the Buffs built a 44-14 third quarter lead.
Jan. 22, 1999—Gary Barnett named the 22nd head coach in Colorado history.
Oct.
9, 1999—Colorado plays the first overtime game in its history, with Mike
Moschetti’s 24-yard touchdown pass to Marcus Stiggers paving
the way for a 46-39 win over Missouri in Boulder. (The NCAA
added overtime in 1996.)
Nov. 26, 1999—The Buffs play their second overtime game ever, losing to
Nebraska, 33-30 in Boulder. However, CU rallies from its largest
deficit ever to tie the game, coming back after trailing 27-3 with
a 24-point, 284-yard fourth quarter against the No. 3
Jay Leeuwenburg and Darian Hagan, 1990
480
Cornhuskers.
always gone Missouri’s way.
Dec. 31, 1999—CU defeats Boston College, 62-28, in the 11th annual
Insight.com Bowl at Tucson. The Buffs race to a 45-7 halftime
lead and set numerous records in their sixth straight bowl win,
adding to the nation’s longest active streak.
The 1990 team, with 44 lettermen overall and 13 starters
returning quite naturally was the favorite to win the Big 8 and
be among the contenders for the national championship. But
a 1-1-1 start had knocked CU from No. 5 to No. 20 in the polls,
and CU was staring a road trip to Austin right in the face.
Texas led 19-14 when the third quarter came to a close, in
position to score a touchdown, as the teams switched to the
other end of the field. McCartney:
“Eric Bieniemy, this fireball, all five-foot-six of him, had
huddled the offense together on the sidelines, and he has
these huge lineman around him he’s trying to fire up and
challenge. We got a break and the quarter ended. Texas
took off running to the other end of the field. And then
something happened that I had never seen before and
never since. Our defensive guys starting walking slowly
to the other end, but our offense walked on to the field
and intercepted them at our own 20. So there were 22
guys on the field, and the offense, at Bieniemy’s urging,
was challenging the defense to hold them. The defense
then charged down to the other end of the stadium and
held them to a field goal. The offense got the ball,
marched down and scored right away, and we held them
on defense to three plays and out for the first time in the
game. We then drove for the go-ahead and winning score.
The significance of this is that one guy can make a difference. The morale is to the physical as is four is to one;
one guy like that can change things, and our entire
season turned around because of this one kid being
ignited and sparking and inspiring the others.”
The 29-22 win was the first of 10 in a row, but there was some
controversy along the way. Charles S. Johnson, subbing for
an injured Hagan at quarterback, scored from a yard out as
time ran out to give CU a 33-31 win at Missouri. However, the
officials erred and had given CU five downs. Though no one
knew it, not the teams, the scoreboard operators or
Missouri’s chain crew at Faurot Field, all the ill will was aimed
at Colorado, even though Johnson had spiked the ball on
fourth down.
If anyone cheated that day, it was Missouri. Faurot had a terrible Omni-Turf field that required a different sort of cleat, and
the Tigers made zero effort to tell the opponent about it. CU
coaches documented 92 slips in the open field, otherwise
Colorado would have won over an inferior Tiger team in a
cakewalk. The voters didn’t penalized CU until a week later
after a win over Iowa State, dropping the Buffs two notches to
No. 14.
Missouri fans have never seemed to grasp the fact that if CU
had known it was fourth down, which MU didn’t either,
Johnson never would have spiked the ball to stop the clock;
he would have run a play. And in the years since, any borderline calls in Columbia, and on occasion in Boulder, have
The Buffs used a lot of the frustration building up to whip
Kansas (41-10) and Oklahoma (32-23), setting up a rematch
with Nebraska for the inside track to the Big 8 title. CU was
now No. 9 and the Huskers No. 2; there were a lot of key
games in the top 10 that Saturday, Nov. 3, and leading up to
the game, Nebraska AD Bob Devaney issued a plea to the
league coaches who voted in the UPI poll to stick together
and support the conference in their polls. Of course, he
meant just Nebraska.
CU throttled the Huskers, 27-12, on a cold, wet and generally
nasty day in Lincoln. Four others in the top 10 lost, and the
Buffs zoomed to No. 4. And just as in ’89, Colorado demolished Oklahoma State (41-22) and Kansas State (64-3) and
after other results Thanksgiving weekend, CU again was
headed to the Orange Bowl as the nation’s No. 1 team. The
opponent would be Notre Dame … again.
Eric Bieniemy, who the previous year was the only active
Buff voted on CU’s All-Century team (Williams was honorable
mention), finished second in the nation in rushing. Bienemy,
Garten and Williams were unanimous All-America selections,
while a record 12 Buffaloes garnered first-team All-Big 8
honors. Williams won CU’s first postseason individual honor
when he received the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker, while Garten was the runner-up for the Outland
Trophy and Bieniemy third in the Heisman race.
There was no shortage of heroes for Colorado in the Orange
Bowl. The No. 1 Buffaloes got the best of No. 5 Notre Dame,
10-9, and CU claimed its first-ever national championship in
football. Those included Johnson, who played the entire
second half after Hagan suffered a torn ACL late in the first;
Paul Rose, who subbed for an injured Kanavis McGhee
(shoulder) at outside linebacker; Ronnie Bradford, who
charged through the line and blocked the Irish’s extra point
try, which would turn out to be the margin of victory; Chad
Brown, who forced the fumble that Rose recovered that led to
CU’s go-ahead touchdown by Bieniemy; Jim Harper, who had
a field goal and the game winning PAT kick; and Deon Figures,
who made an interception in the final seconds, ending any
chance for a Notre Dame win as he ran out the clock.
CU, 11-1-1 for the season, was the consensus national champion, but lost to Georgia Tech by a single point. Remember
Devaney’s pitch? Nebraska coach Tom Osborne voted
Georgia Tech first and Colorado second, or as some have
said, even as low as fourth.
Colorado repeated as co-champs of the Big 8 in 1991, as the
Buffaloes were reloading but it’s never easy replacing nine
players drafted into the NFL and 14 starters. CU opened the
season against Wyoming, dedicating the just-completed Dal
Ward Athletic Center at the north end of Folsom Field. A $14.3
million, 92,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility, it houses
primarily the football program and the support departments
for all of CU’s athletic programs. CU won the game as well, 3013, adding to the nation’s best 11-game winning streak, also
the 15th consecutive win at home.
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But Baylor ended both streaks the following weekend, and
the Buffs would go 2-2 in non-league play ahead of a 6-0-1
record in the conference. The tie came against Nebraska, a
19-19 affair to this day the coldest known game in CU history.
It was 12 degrees at kickoff, down to zero by game’s end, with
the wind chill minus-8 at the start and well below that by the
time Greg Thomas blocked a game winning field goal try by
the Huskers as time ran out.
Two victories CU did take great satisfaction of this season
were against Missouri and Oklahoma. Tired of all the Fifth
Down talk perpetuated by a whining Tiger fan base and their
homer media, the Buffs donned all black and did their talking
on the field, smothering Mizzou 55-7 in a game that just as
easily could have been 91-7. CU coaches joked that they
should punt on a third down to give the extra down back. And
against the Sooners, OU had climbed to No. 12 in the nation,
but the Buffs won for a second straight time in Norman, and
convincingly, 34-17.
Hagan ended his career undefeated in Big 8 play, leading CU
to a 18-0-1 mark in his three years as starting quarterback; the
Buffs won the other two games he couldn’t start due to injury.
Center Jay Leeuwenburg, a three-year starter, was a unanimous All-America choice, and was joined by five defensive
players on the All-Big 8 team.
Opponents had started to figure out the “I-Bone,” and in the
Blockbuster Bowl game against Alabama, CU made its initial
move to a multiple offense featuring much more passing.
‘Bama won, 30-25, but not without controversy: rumors that
the Crimson Tide had spied on CU’s practices were later
confirmed. Still, an 8-3-1 year was considered a success.
The 1992 season was a transitional year of sorts, as CU
shifted away from it’s two- and three-back I-bone on offense
to a one-back set. Kordell Stewart took over at starting quarterback, and his favorite targets were Michael Westbrook (76
catches, 1,060 yards) and Charles E. Johnson (57 and 1,149).
CU had never had a 1,000-yard receiver in a single season,
and now it had two. Stewart also became the first to pass for
2,000 yards.
Colorado opened the year 5-0, though Stewart would suffer
an ankle injury in a win at Baylor, and it led to playing freshman Koy Detmer, who sparkled in rallying CU to a 21-20 win
at Minnesota. Stewart reinjured the ankle and couldn’t play
against Oklahoma, with Detmer getting the nod. It was an
inauspicious start for the lanky lad from Mission, Texas,
whose brother, Ty, was the 1990 Heisman Trophy winner. He
threw for a school record 418 yards, including a record 92yard TD pass to Johnson, but was intercepted five times. Only
a line drive, 53-yard field goal by Mitch Berger as time
expired salvaged a 24-24 tie, keeping CU’s 24-game unbeaten
streak in Big 8 play alive.
That run grew to 23-0-2 with a 54-7 pasting of Kansas State in
the next game, but that’s where it was halted, as Nebraska
ended the streak by dealing CU a 52-7 loss in Lincoln, another
game where the young Detmer had to start in place of an
injured Stewart. The Huskers took back the league title,
though CU won out to finish 5-1-1 in league play and earn a
Fiesta Bowl berth opposite No. 6 Syracuse. The Orangemen
were only the second team to beat CU all year with a 26-22
verdict in the bowl, as CU ended ’92 with a 9-2-1 mark.
Figures was a consensus All-American cornerback and was the
recipient of the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation’s top defensive
back. CU’s talented linebackers, Brown and Greg Biekert,
probably kept one another from garnered similar honors,
though both earned All-Big 8 status. Offensive tackle Jim
Hansen, another all-conference performer, earned the “academic” Heisman in winning the Draddy Award, in addition to
being named a Rhodes Scholar and Academic All-American.
The Buffs went 8-3-1 in 1993, finishing second in the Big 8
again with a 5-1-1 mark, again. While Lamont Warren had an
outstanding year with 900 rushing yards, another CU tailback
was asserting himself. His name was Rashaan Salaam.
CU spent the entire 1994 season in the top 10 (actually the
top eight to be exact). After warming up with a win over
Northeast Louisiana, Colorado plastered the defending Big 10
Conference and Rose Bowl champion Wisconsin Badgers, 5517. The Buffs were then faced with one the more grueling
three-game sequences on the road in school history, as they
headed to Michigan, Texas and Missouri.
Quieting the 106,000-plus fans at Michigan Stadium is never
easy, but the Buffs drove a stake through the heart of all with
a 27-26 victory. “The Miracle in Michigan,” one of many
names for the game or play, came down to six seconds
remaining and CU on its own 36. The Buffs had dominated
Michigan all game, sans a third quarter lapse, and it appeared
the Wolverines would get off the hook. Stewart took the snap,
drifted back and heaved the ball some 72 yards in the air,
where Blake Anderson tipped it into the waiting grasp of
Westbrook. Game over.
“This is another game I point to, because I personally
knew how hard I was to go in there and win, and this is
easily among the great victories in the history of
Colorado,” McCartney recalled in 2006. “There are many
things that went into that. Kordell (Stewart) was special.
Not that many guys can throw the ball that high or that
far, plus you have to have the trajectory on it to buy the
receivers time to get under the ball. (Assistant coach)
Rick Neuheisel deserves a lot of credit for that play
because he had the wherewithal and understanding of
the play to make it have a chance. It really came from him
more than anybody else. That was another thing about
Rick that I liked so much. He coached that game all the
way, because he really believed we could win it. He
communicated that. Even though the clock was against
us, he never gave up. I credit his attitude and perspective
as much as anything in keeping us going right to the
buzzer.”
The euphoria did not get to the Buffs, who went down to
Austin and in searing 100 degree heat, beat the Longhorns,
34-31. Salaam rushed for 317 yards and had a school record
482
362 all-purpose to lead CU, which won on a 24-yard Neil
Voskeritchian field goal with one second left on the clock. A
38-23 win followed at Missouri, a relative breather compared
to what CU had been through.
CU mauled Oklahoma, 45-7, and beat an ever-improving
Kansas State team 35-21, setting up a showdown with
Nebraska in Lincoln. As was the case in ’89, CU was No. 2, NU
was No. 3, but the Buffs offensive game plan left a little to be
desired that day, with Nebraska snaring a 24-7 win. CU, with
all its talented receivers, never threw more than 15 yards
downfield, playing into the Huskers’ defense strong suit. The
Buffs picked themselves up off the floor and beat Oklahoma
State, Kansas and Iowa State to finish the regular season at
10-1, accepting a bid to face Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.
But no one could have scripted the events of Nov. 19,
though nothing stands out at first glance at the 41-20 win
over Iowa State. Salaam went over 2,000 yards for the
season, just the fourth player in NCAA history at the time to
do so, doing it in style with a 67-yard touchdown run around
the right end and down the CU sideline in the fourth quarter. On the next series, Stewart became the all-time total
offense leader in the Big 8. And postgame, practically trumping both, McCartney announced to his team and then the
world that he was retiring.
“I didn’t do that without a lot of forethought, without a
lot of prayer and without a lot of counsel,” he said later
on. “I did not want or mean to steal Rashaan’s or
Kordell’s thunder, but I had to do it then due to recruiting. If I had waited, it would have compromised the
integrity of the recruiting season, of which the whole
process was still in front of us.”
Salaam won the Heisman Trophy and the Doak Walker Award
and was a unanimous All-American; cornerback Chris
Hudson earned consensus honors and was the Thorpe Award
winner, with linebacker Ted Johnson the runner-up for the
Butkus Award.
The Buffs sent McCartney out a winner with a resounding 4124 win over Notre Dame, basically calling off the dogs after
building a 31-3 second quarter lead. Mac was carried off the
field, and the program was turned over to Rick Neuheisel,
who Marolt hired in late November to succeed him.
McCartney cited what his teams did in 1989 and 1990 as the
biggest accomplishment during his tenure, if not since. “I’ll
tell you this, to beat Nebraska and Oklahoma in back-toback weeks, both home and away in consecutive years,
established us. That had never happened before … by
anyone.”
Neuheisel was the surprise choice by Marolt to replace
McCartney. The search was internal; four candidates
emerged from Mac’s last staff. In addition to Neuheisel, who
coached the quarterbacks and receivers, offensive coordinator Elliot Uzelac, defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz and
assistant head coach Bob Simmons were all interviewed and
considered.
Rashaan Salaam and the late Doak Walker, 1994
When it came down to it, Neuheisel simply interviewed the
best and had a great vision for the program, though the
others were certainly qualified. Some felt he was too young at
33, but Eddie Crowder had been handed the keys to the
program at 31, and Marolt himself took over the CU ski team
when he was 26. But Neuheisel had a solid pedigree, serving
as an assistant for six years at his alma mater, UCLA, under
Terry Donahue, his college coach, and one year under
McCartney in Boulder.
The transition was the perfect scenario. McCartney’s last
game was the Fiesta Bowl, and he worried about most of the
game planning without having to be concerned with recruiting; Neuheisel could concentrate on organizing recruiting and
help when needed with the game plan as part of his duties as
quarterbacks and receivers coach. His first class was ranked
anywhere from seventh to 12th by the major prep services.
No one knew what to expect in 1995, the cupboard certainly
wasn’t bare with 37 lettermen and 12 starters back, but the 10
starters lost were all drafted into the NFL. Seven of those
players were selected among the first 71 picks, meaning the
Buffs were losing some serious talent. There were but seven
seniors on the team.
CU opened on the road for the first time in 12 seasons, traveling to No. 21 Wisconsin. No Colorado coach had won his
first game since William Saunders in 1932, but the Buffaloes
said to heck with that fact and blitzed the Badgers, 43-7.
Detmer had a successful game as the heir apparent to
Stewart, the defense had several players shine and all was
generally good. CU added two more blowouts over Colorado
State and Northeast Louisiana and had the first big test of the
Neuheisel Era ahead, No. 3 Texas A&M.
Detmer went down with a torn ACL early in the game with an
inexperienced John Hessler summoned to rally the Buffs
from a 7-0 deficit. Hessler answered the challenge, threw the
winning TD pass to Tennyson McCarty, and with great
483
support from the defense, CU gave Neuheisel his first signature win. Detmer would try and make a gallant comeback two
weeks later against Kansas, but the knee just wouldn’t hold
up and he underwent surgery to end his season. Hessler, who
led CU to a 38-17 win at Oklahoma in his first career start in
the interim, took over for the remainder of the year.
Only Kansas and Nebraska defeated the Buffs on the way to a
9-2 record, with CU tying for second in the Big 8. Colorado
drew No. 12 Oregon for the Cotton Bowl, and it was a miserable day weather-wise in Dallas with light-to-heavy rain, gusting winds and temperatures in the 40s. The Buffs weren’t
phased; Hessler threw two touchdown passes, Herchell
Troutman rushed for 100 yards and a score and Marcus
Washington had an NCAA-record 95 yard interception return
for a TD in CU’s 38-6 rout of the Ducks. Oregon fans were
upset at a fake punt CU ran in the fourth quarter ahead by 25,
but they had no way of knowing the Buffs had found out the
niece of one of the Duck coaches took pictures at a CU practice. Sometimes, payback is sweet.
Safe to say, a 10-2 mark in Neuheisel’s first season was quite
the accomplishment after what had graduated into the NFL
and losing the starting quarterback. Perhaps too good of one
as it turned out; it may have raised expectations too high,
especially after his second team posted an identical mark.
It was CU’s swan song in the Big 8 Conference; all eight
schools merged with four from the dying Southwest
Conference, Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech to
form the Big 12 Conference. It was considered a brand new
league, not an expansion of the old Big 8, and was set up with
two divisions. The Buffs were assigned to the North with old
rivals Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri and
Nebraska; Oklahoma and Oklahoma State joined the four old
SWC schools in the South.
CU opened 2-0 in 1996, setting up a rematch of “The Miracle
in Michigan” from two years earlier in Boulder. Michigan,
ranked No. 11, got the best of the No. 5 Buffs 20-13. Terrible
clock management by the Wolverines actually gave the ball
back to CU at the Michigan 37 with five seconds left, and a
Detmer pass tipped by Darrin Chiaverini fell harmlessly to
the ground, about two feet away from a diving Rae Carruth ...
or just 24 inches from miracle number two.
Colorado bounced back to win the next seven, including the
Big 12 opener at Texas A&M. The Buffs dominated most of the
games, though the running game was not what it used to be.
Against tougher defenses, the Buffs couldn’t pound the ball
when it needed to. That was evident in the finale at Nebraska,
which with the new league was now the signature North
match-up and moved to the Friday after Thanksgiving.
ABC was happy with the first match-up, as both were 7-0 in
league play and ranked in the top five (CU at No.5, NU No. 4).
The Huskers were the better team this rotten day in Lincoln,
as freezing rain fell throughout in their 17-12 conquest. The
weather exposed CU’s inability to run the ball, with the Buffs
netting 51 yards on 32 tries; and Detmer was able to complete
just 12-of-38 throws. Jeremy Aldrich was “activated” for the
game and kicked four field goals to account for all of CU’s
points.
Guard Chris Naeole and linebacker Matt Russell were
consensus All-Americans, with Russell the second Buffalo to
win the Butkus Award. The Buffs led the way on the inaugural
All-Big 12 team with six first-team performers.
A come-from-behind 33-21 win over Washington in the
Holiday Bowl polished off a 10-2 season, as Detmer went out
in style, throwing for 371 yards and three touchdowns.
Carruth hauled in seven of those passes for a CU-bowl record
162 yards and two scores, and the pair hooked up on a
76-yard TD play, the longest in school bowl history.
The Colorado program was in uncharted waters, having won
31 games over the three previous seasons, a claim only
Florida, Florida State and Nebraska could also make.
Neuheisel’s first two teams had gone 20-4, the fifth most wins
in the first two years by a Division I-A coach. He was also just
the fourth to guide his team to a pair of top 10 finishes in his
first two seasons (No. 5 in ‘95, No. 8 in ’96).
CU had 53 lettermen, with 13 starters, back for 1997, and
there was no reason to think it couldn’t continue, especially
since Neuheisel landed what many considered to be the fifth
best recruiting class in the nation.
But a 5-6 record in ’97 brought an end to an incredible eightseason run where the Buffs had posted the fourth best record
overall in the nation at 78-15-4. A loss at Michigan in the
second game started the downward spiral, and CU had to
defeat Wyoming the next week on a late field goal. Two close
losses against Texas A&M and Oklahoma State got CU off on
the wrong foot in league play, and the 2-3 start also ended
CU’s consecutive weeks ranked streak at 143, the 10th longest
of all time.
The Buffaloes had also been to nine consecutive bowls, but at
5-5, needed a win to become bowl eligible against No. 2
Nebraska. The Huskers stormed to a 27-3 lead and then held
off a Hessler-charged comeback to win 27-24, and CU stayed
at home for the postseason for the first time since 1987.
No one knew it at the time, but the 1998 season would be
Neuheisel’s last at Colorado. Marolt had stepped down as AD
in the summer of 1996, and was replaced by long-time university counsel Dick Tharp, who was thisclose at one time to
being named commissioner of the Big Ten. While the two got
along, Neuheisel never felt he had the same kind of support
from his new boss.
The year opened with the Colorado State game, except that
the contest had been moved to Denver’s Mile High Stadium, a
popular move for some but not for many of CU’s season ticket
holders, four times in size to CSU’s, and many Buff fans were
displaced. That didn’t matter come postgame after a 42-14
Colorado rout, led by new quarterback Mike Moschetti, a
fiery junior college transfer from Mount San Antonio. He
passed for 257 yards and three touchdowns as the unranked
Buffs used the win over the No. 15 Rams to enter the polls
484
themselves. It was the impetus for a 5-0 start and a No. 14
national ranking.
2000s
IMPORTANT DATES & MILESTONES
A 16-9 loss to No. 5 Kansas State was the first of four setbacks
in the last six regular season games, sending the Buffs to a
second straight fourth place finish in the North Division. But
a wild 51-43 win over No. 21 Oregon in the Aloha Bowl ended
the year on a good note.
The afternoon after CU played Oregon in the Aloha Bowl,
Washington and Air Force squared off in the Oahu Bowl in the
same stadium (the only bowl doubleheader in history).
Washington AD Barbara Hedges fired coach Jim Lambright
after the game and started to pursue Neuheisel. She liked
what she had seen of CU both on and off the field in Honolulu.
Despite media reports to the contrary, the two never talked
until after she fired Lambright days after the bowl.
Neuheisel at first rebuffed the offer, but told her that the
Washington job was a plumb and what kind of package a
school of that caliber should offer. She came up with exactly
what he designed, including a $1 million salary, and called to
offer him a second time. With Tharp apparently unwilling to
give Neuheisel one of three contracts the state of Colorado
allowed CU to give its coaches, the move was a no-brainer for
Rick and his family.
But the timing outright stunk, and decimated what would
have been a fifth straight top 20 recruiting class for the Buffs.
After flirting with Denver Bronco offensive coordinator Gary
Kubiak, Tharp turned to former CU assistant Gary Barnett,
who had performed one of the miracle turnarounds of alltime in college football at Northwestern. He led the Wildcats
to their first bowl game in 47 years when his ’95 team came
out of nowhere to win the Big Ten Conference, named the
national coach of the year in the process. He had spent eight
years as a McCartney assistant (1984-91) and knew the CU
program and Boulder inside and out.
His opener was nothing short of a nightmare, as CSU paid
back the Buffs for the ’98 blowout at Mile High with a 41-14
win. It was a complete reversal, as the Rams were unranked
and knocked No. 14 Colorado out of the polls for what would
be two seasons. The Buffs never won more than two games in
a row all season, but there were memorable moments along
the way during the 7-5 campaign. Cornerback Ben Kelly electrified the fans with his returns, twice returning kickoffs for
touchdowns as well as two fumbles, including a 96-yard jaunt
for six against Kansas, the longest in CU history.
A 62-28 blasting of Boston College in the Insight.com Bowl
capped the year and the millennium. In one of the most dominant performances in postseason history, CU led 45-7 at halftime, had 523 total yards and 29 first downs, and had three
return TDs, including an 88-yard punt return by Kelly, the
longest in NCAA bowl annals.
Oct. 28, 2000—Craig Ochs joins an elite group in college football history as he
becomes the first Buffalo to score touchdowns via rushing and
receiving while also throwing one in the same game in CU’s 3721 win over Oklahoma State. In the second quarter, Javon Green
had become the first Buff to ever throw and catch a touchdown
pass in the same game, and was later joined by Ochs in the
fourth quarter. It was Green who threw the TD pass to Ochs;
Ochs threw his to Roman Hollowell, Green caught his from Zac
Colvin.
Aug. 26, 2001—Colorado had the honor of hosting and playing in the inaugural
Jim Thorpe Association Football Classic, but the Buffaloes fall,
24-22, to Fresno State.
Sept.13, 2001—Due to the terrorist attacks two days earlier on the east coast,
CU’s game at Washington State on Sept. 15 is cancelled. It was
the first time in school history an out-of-state game is not played
as Colorado joined the rest of the nation in honoring those who
died doing their every day jobs.
Nov. 23, 2001—Sophomore Chris Brown scores a school record six touchdowns
in leading Colorado to a 62-36 win over Nebraska in Boulder,
earning CU its first North Division title since the Big 12 started
play in 1996. A record setting day on many fronts, it was also the
most points ever allowed by a Nebraska team at the time as CU
sprinted out to a 35-3 lead over the BCS No. 1-ranked Huskers.
Dec. 1, 2001—The Buffaloes win their first Big 12 Conference title with a 39-37
win over Texas at Irving, basically coming in a road game environment. Despite UT knowing a win would put it into the national
title game against Miami, CU spotted the Longhorns a 7-0 lead
before scoring 29 points in less than a 15-minute span to take
the lead for good. Chris Brown rushed for 198 yards and three
touchdowns with the Buffs also coming up big on defense and
special teams.
Dec. 12, 2001—Daniel Graham is named the recipient of the second annual John
Mackey Award, presented to the nation’s best tight end.
Jan. 1, 2002—In only the sixth-ever match-up in the postseason of the Nos. 2
and 3 teams in the country, second-ranked Oregon toppled No. 3
Colorado, 38-16, in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. CU led 7-0 early but
the Ducks used a late second quarter score to take a 21-7 lead
into halftime and held the Buffs at bay the rest of the game.
Dec. 7, 2002—After winning its second straight Big 12 North Division title
outright the previous week with a win at Nebraska, CU fell short
in its bid to become the first back-to-back champion in Big 12
history when it fell 29-7 to Oklahoma in Houston in the league’s
title game.
Dec. 12, 2002—Mark Mariscal is named the recipient of the Ray Guy Award as
the nation’s best punter.
Dec. 28, 2002—Wisconsin rallies to defeat the Buffaloes in overtime, 31-28, in
the Alamo Bowl presented by MasterCard.
Oct. 16, 2004—Mason Crosby connects on a school record 60-yard field goal,
the first made from that distance in the NCAA in five seasons.
Dec. 4, 2004—CU won its third Big 12 North Division title the previous week
when it defeated Nebraska and Iowa State lost to Missouri, but
the Buffs lost to Oklahoma 42-3 in the league championship
game in Kansas City.
Dec. 29, 2004—Colorado defeated Texas-El Paso, 33-28, in the Houston Bowl
behind the passing of Joel Klatt, who was named the offensive
MVP in the game with 333 yards passing.
Dec. 3, 2005—After the Buffs win their fourth division title in five seasons, CU
drops the Big 12 championship game to Texas, 70-3. Gary
Barnett steps down as head coach five days later.
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Dec. 16, 2005—Dan Hawkins named the 23rd head coach in Colorado history.
Dec. 27, 2005—Mike Hankwitz, named interim head coach for the bowl game,
leads CU into the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando. The Buffs,
nursing several injuries on offense, including quarterback Joel
Klatt who missed the game, have a gritty effort but fall to No. 23
Clemson, 19-10.
Dec. 7, 2006—Mason Crosby named first-team All-American, becoming the
fifth Buff to earn the distinction in back-to-back seasons.
Sept. 1, 2007—CU and Colorado State play the first overtime game in series
history, with Kevin Eberhart tying the game with a 22-yard field
goal with 13 seconds left in regulation and then winning it with a
35-yard effort in OT as CU won, 31-28.
Sept.29, 2007—Kevin Eberhart makes just the second game winning field goal as
time expired in school history, with his 45-yard kick propelling
CU to a 27-24 win over No. 3 Oklahoma.
Dec. 30, 2007—Alabama sprinted to a 27-0 lead over Colorado and then held off
a furious Buff rally, as the Crimson Tide tops CU, 30-24, in the
32nd Annual PetroSun Independence Bowl.
The Buffs got off to a rough start in the 21st Century, losing
their first three games in 2000 by a combined 10 points. The
last of the trio was a nail-biting setback to Neuheisel and
Washington for a second straight year. The Buffs rallied to
win three league games, including a 26-19 win at Texas A&M
where Craig Ochs became just the second true freshman
quarterback in his first start to lead CU to victory and a 28-18
triumph at Missouri, where CU had a school-record 14 quarterback sacks.
CU’s 2001 squad was a senior dominated team, led by tight
end Daniel Graham and center Andre Gurode, both AllAmericans, with eight first-team All-Big 12 performers, including Thorpe Award semifinalist Michael Lewis at safety.
Graham also won the Mackey Award as the nation’s top tight
end. These guys blended perfectly with several others to
create the best season in the Barnett Era, notably a “threeheaded monster” at tailback in senior Cortlen Johnson,
junior Chris Brown and sophomore Bobby Purify.
In short, the team was loaded, all the more reason a 24-22
season opening loss to Fresno State was one of the early
season shockers in college football, though FSU would eventually crack the top 10 by midseason. Still, the Buffs were
mad, and after a players-only meeting regrouped to take it out
on Colorado State in Denver to start a five-game winning
streak. In the midst of this run came the events of September
11, which forced the cancellation of a game at Washington
State that was never made up.
Texas ended the streak in Austin by hammering the Buffs, 417, but CU picked itself right up and reeled off five in a row
again. It started with a 22-19 come-from-behind triumph at
Oklahoma State where Bobby Pesavento came off the bench
to replace Ochs, who suffered a nasty ankle sprain. Ochs
never returned to the lineup and Pesavento led CU to easy
wins over Missouri and Iowa State. In the latter, a 40-27 win,
Johnson became the first Colorado player to have at least 100
yards both rushing and receiving in the same game.
CU was now 8-2 on the season and was set to host No. 2
Nebraska, with the Huskers actually the top team in the BCS
Standings. The Buffs unleashed a running attack that day
Nebraska was used to inflicting, not accepting. Brown had
198 yards and six touchdowns, Purify added 154 and a score
to pace a 380-yard, eight-touchdown ground assault that
helped Colorado build a 35-3 second quarter en route to a 6236 win, which earned the Buffs their first North Division title
and a rematch with Texas in the championship game.
Perhaps it was overconfidence from the earlier rout of CU, or
the fact that the game was in the Dallas suburbs and it was
essentially a home game, or an early score had them up 7-0,
but the No. 2 Longhorns, third in the BCS Standings but guaranteed a spot in the BCS title game with a win after Florida
had lost earlier in the day, were in for a long evening. Brown
ran for 182 yards and three scores, and three interceptions of
UT’s Chris Simms paved the way for a 36-10 run over a 22minute span that put CU in command on its way to a 39-37
win and its first conference title since 1991.
The Buffs missed qualifying for the national championship
game by .05 in the BCS Standings, Nebraska still getting the
nod over CU and three other schools who could have
supplanted the Huskers, including No. 2 Oregon, Colorado’s
opponent in the Fiesta Bowl. The Ducks played with a bigger
chip on their shoulder than CU did, scoring 38 straight points
after the Buffs took an early 7-0 lead and walked away with a
38-16 win.
Colorado finished 2001 with a 10-3 record and a No. 9 ranking,
so the year was still a success. But a tumultuous four years
lied ahead in the Barnett Era, though three of those four
teams still captured division titles.
The Buffs were 9-5 in 2002 as after a 1-2 start, CU won eight of
the next nine. Ochs quit the team early in the season, and
inexperienced Robert Hodge stepped in and did an
admirable job in taking over the offense. He wasn’t flashy, but
he made very few mistakes. Brown was in the Heisman hunt
until a late season ankle injury forced him to the sidelines,
but still finished third in the nation in rushing. Jeremy Bloom
excited all with his knack for the long play, returning a punt
75 yards for a touchdown against CSU the first time he
touched the ball, and Mark Mariscal won the Ray Guy Award
as the nation’s best punter. CU closed the year with losses to
Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game and to Wisconsin in overtime in the Alamo Bowl.
Colorado suffered through a 5-7 season in 2003, though
opened with two down-to-the-wire wins over Colorado State
and UCLA and rose to No. 17 in the rankings. Joel Klatt, a
walk-on and former minor league baseball infielder, made his
debut as starting quarterback, and had a monster game,
throwing for 402 yards and four touchdowns against CSU,
earning national player of the week honors. However, the
Buffs dropped six of the next seven, any hopes for the postseason seemed lost. But a win over No. 22 Missouri followed
by a blowout at Iowa State had CU needing just one more
victory to become bowl eligible, and the Buffs had an average
Nebraska team at home. The Huskers, just like in ’97, ended
CU’s season, this time with a 31-22 verdict.
There were a lot of off the field distractions in 2004, resulting
from an off-campus party that involved a handful of players
on the team and some visiting high school recruits in 2001.
This ordeal, centered on a lawsuit, perpetuated several
untruths about the football program, many manufactured
and accelerated by the news-side media and a hired public
relations firm by the plaintiffs. At one point, CU president
Betsy Hoffman suspended Barnett for three months, with
assistant head coach Brian Cabral taking over the team for
486
spring ball. It also led to audits of the athletic department and
the CU Foundation, and another casualty was the forced
resignation of AD Tharp in November.
If there ever was an “us versus the world” mentality, the 2004
Colorado Buffaloes epitomized it. An emotional 27-24 win
over Colorado State in Boulder led to a 3-0 start, but eight
weeks later, the Buffs found themselves at 4-4, 1-4 in league
play. The one win would be an important tiebreaker later on,
a 19-14 conquest of Iowa State that included Mason Crosby
making a school record 60-yard field goal, the first of that
distance in college football in six seasons.
If no less than five things happened, first and foremost CU
winning out, the Buffs still could win the division. And all did,
including a season-ending 26-20 win at Nebraska that ended
the Huskers’ run of 35 consecutive bowl appearances. The
Buffs were back in the Big 12 title game; that was the good
news. The not-so-good was that No. 2 Oklahoma lit up the
Buffs, 42-3, outgaining CU 498-46 in the game.
Mike Bohn was named the new AD in April 2005, and was
open to evaluating the football situation. Recruiting had
suffered due to the bad publicity the program had received,
but CU opened with seven wins in the first nine games,
including five by lopsided margins. Barnett was offered an
extension in early November, but declined it at the time.
When the Buffs dropped their next four, the last two of which
came by a combined score of 100-6 to Nebraska and Texas in
the Big 12 title game, Barnett was dismissed in early
December.
It took less than 10 days for Bohn to find his man. Dan
Hawkins had compiled a 53-11 record in five seasons at Boise
State, the fourth most wins by a Division I-A coach in his first
five years, and had won or shared four Western Athletic
Conference titles. Long-time observers of the program
likened him part Bill McCartney and part Eddie Crowder, two
former coaches he immediately turned to for some counsel
and history of the program. Bohn and most others thought
him to be the perfect fit for Colorado, as he was the hot
national coach at the time of his hire.
His first Buffalo team mustered just a 2-10 record, with four
near-misses, the most frustrating when the Buffs squandered
a late 13-0 lead at ninth-ranked Georgia in losing 14-13. He got
his first win against Texas Tech in convincing fashion (30-6).
The improvement was substantial his second year, with CU
posting a 6-6 record in the regular season, becoming bowl-eligible in the finale with a 65-51 win over Nebraska. Along the
way, Hawkins earned his first signature win of his Colorado
tenure, defeating No. 3 Oklahoma 27-24 on a Kevin Eberhart
field goal as time ran out. Jordan Dizon earned consensus
All-America honors and was the Big 12’s defensive player of
the year in finishing as the runner-up for the Butkus Award. In
the Independence Bowl against Alabama, CU couldn’t recover from an early 27-0 deficit, but once the Buffs settled down,
they pulled to within 30-24 but time ran out before the season
could end on a good note.
Unfortunately, things never took off from there as expected;
despite some other exciting wins, including a 29-17 win over
Georgia in 2010 when the Buffs hosted the 1990 team in a 20th
anniversary celebration of their national championship,
Hawkins was 19-39 and was let go with three games left in the
season. Long-time assistant Brian Cabral was named interim
head coach, and CU responded with two straight wins, but a
loss at Nebraska ended the season and the Buffs would stay
home for the holidays a third straight year.
On December 6, 2010, Bohn brought former CU standout Jon
Embree back to Boulder as the school’s 24th fill-time head
coach. Embree is just the third alum to be named to the position; the first was Harry Heller way back in 1895, with the
second Bud Davis, who took the position for the 1962 season
as CU righted its ship after NCAA issues. Embree is also the
school’s first African-American head coach for football, and
brings an impressive pedigree in addition to his performance
as a tight end for the Buffaloes from 1983-86; he also coached
as an assistant under three different CU head coaches and
then added four years of NFL experience to his resume before
returning to his alma mater.
Embree helped to usher in the Pac-12 Conference Era in CU
football annals, as after 15 years in the Big 12, the Buffaloes
bolted west and joined the 10 members of the old Pac-12,
along with former long-time rival Utah. He got his first win
over Colorado State in Denver, a 28-14 verdict, but had to wait
until November to pick up his first conference win, a 48-29
rout of Arizona in Boulder on Senior Day. The season finale
gave the program so long awaited revenge against Utah, as
the schools had not met in nearly half a century; not only did
the 17-14 win snap a school record 23-game losing streak on
the road, it came 50 years after the Utes knocked CU out of
the 1961 national championship chase.
2010s
IMPORTANT DATES & MILESTONES
June 10, 2010—Colorado officials announce they are leaving the Big 12 to join
the Pac-12 Conference, effective July 1, 2011.
Nov. 9, 2010—Dan Hawkins is dismissed as head coach, with long-time assistant coach Brian Cabral named as interim head coach to finish
out the 2010 season.
Dec. 6, 2010—Jon Embree named the 24th full-time head coach in Colorado
history, the first alum to take over the program since Bud Davis
in 1962. On the same date, Eric Bieniemy, CU’s all-time leading
rusher, returns as the school’s offensive coordinator.
CU fans storm the Folsom Field floor after the 27-24 win
over Oklahoma in 2007
Nov. 25, 2011—Colorado ends its first year in the Pac-12 on a high note, its 1714 win at Utah ending a school record 23-game road losing
streak.
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MILESTONE GAMES
Game
Season Game
Opponent
Result
1
1890
first
at Denver A.C.
L
0-20
50
1898
third
at Colorado College
L
0-22
100
1904
third
NEBRASKA
W
6- 0
200
1917
seventh
UTAH
W 18- 9
250
1924
eighth
COLORADO STATE
W 36- 0
300
1930
eighth
at Denver
W 27- 7
400
1943
first
FT. FRANCIS WARREN W 38- 0
500
1953
tenth
at Colorado State
W 13- 7
600
1963
eighth
MISSOURI
L
7-28
700
1973
first
at Louisiana State
L
6-17
750
1977
fifth
OKLAHOMA STATE
W 29-13
800
1981
eleventh
KANSAS STATE
W 24-21
900
1990
eighth
at Kansas
W 41-10
1,000
1998
twelfth
Oregon (Aloha Bowl)
W 51-43
1,100
2006
twelfth
at Nebraska
L
14-37
MILESTONE WINS
Game
Season Game
Opponent
Result
1
1891
fifth
at Colorado College
W 24- 4
50
1901
second
ALUMNI
W
100
1910
second
ALUMNI
W 11- 0
200
1931
seventh
COLORADO COLLEGE W 17- 7
250
1942
first
COLORADO MINES
W 54- 0
300
1952
first
SAN JOSE STATE
W 20-14
400
1969
sixth
MISSOURI
W 31-24
500
1987
eighth
at Iowa State
W 42-10
600
1998
tenth
IOWA STATE
W 37- 8
Byron White
6- 0
MILESTONE FIRSTS
(individual season)
First to Rush for 1,000 Yards ................Kayo Lam (1,043) 1935
First to Rush for 1,500 Yards..........Eric Bieniemy (1,628) 1990
First to Rush for 2,000 Yards .....Rashaan Salaam (2,055) 1994
First to Pass for 1,000 Yards ...........Gale Weidner (1,200) 1959
First to Pass for 1,500 Yards ...........Darian Hagan (1,538) 1990
First to Pass for 2,000 Yards .......Kordell Stewart (2,109) 1992
First to Pass for 3,000 Yards..............Koy Detmer (3,156) 1996
First to Catch 50 Passes ..........................Jon Embree (51) 1984
First to Catch 75 Passes.............Michael Westbrook (76) 1992
First to 1,000 Receiving Yards............Charles Johnson (1,149) 1992
First to Score 100 Points......................Byron White (122) 1937
First to Record 100 Tackles .............Dick Anderson (102) 1967
Dick Anderson
488